The Economist - USA (2019-07-20)

The EconomistJuly 20th 2019 Europe 45

2 mannationalhousingassociationhasal-
readywarnedthatmembercompanieswill
build 50,000fewerapartments overthe
nextfiveyearsifthelawisenacted.Shares
inthecompanythatisGermany’sbiggest
landlordtumbledonthedayofthevote.In
SanFrancisco,capssharplydecreasedthe
supplyofrentalhousing,drivingupprices
citywideby5%aftertheywereexpandedin
1994.Theyencouragedlandlordstodemol-
ishpropertiesandbuildpriceynewones,
sincethesewereexempted,aswouldhap-
peninBerlin.
Criticsarguethatinsteadoftryingtofix
prices,citiesshouldallowmorehomesto
bebuilt.SebastianCzaja,anmpfortheFree
DemocraticPartyinGermany,saysBerlin
needs“aconstructionoffensive”.Thecity
hasgrownbyabout50,000peoplea year
since 2011, but added only 10,000 new
apartmentsperyear.Berlinersarenothelp-
ingthemselves:theyhavevotedagainstde-

velopinga fieldthesizeofMonaconearthe

citycentre,andhaltedplanstobuildona

hugepatchof farmlandnearby.Amster-

damisstrugglingtomeetsupply,too.It

aimstobuild1mnewhomesby2030,but

issuedfewerthan10,000permitslastyear.

RentsinGermannew-buildsarehigh

partlybecausebuildingregulationshave

becomeextremelystringent,saysMichael

VoigtländeroftheGermanEconomicInsti-

tute.FrédéricCherbonnieroftheToulouse

SchoolofEconomicssaysthatinParislarge

rentsubsidies,whichtotal1%ofgdpin

France,havehelpedtopushuppricesand

shouldbecut,sincethebenefitslargelyac-

cruetolandlords,notrenters.

Highrentsareunlikelytocomedown

soon.TheEuropeanCentralBankismain-

tainingultra-lowinterestrates,andurban

migrationwillcontinue.If politiciansreal-

lywanttohelprenters,theyshouldfavour

concrete-mixing,notprice-fixing. 7

O

n the northernedge of Provence, a

mountain pass winds its way out of a

valley of apricot orchards and olive groves

into a startling landscape of emerald forest

and limestone ridges. This is part of one of

France’s newest regional natural parks, the

Baronnies Provençales, set up four years

ago and spreading across 1,800 square kilo-

metres (700 square miles) of the Drôme

and Hautes-Alpes. With a mix of pine, oak

and beech, fully 79% of the park is covered

by forest, and this share is growing. In fact,

as the world worries about deforestation,

the total area of forests in France is actually

on the rise.

Forests now cover 31% of France. In

terms of area, it is the fourth most forested

country in the eu, after Sweden, Finland

and Spain. Since 1990, thanks to better pro-

tection as well as to a decline in farming,

France’s overall wooded or forested areas

have increased by nearly 7%. And France is

far from being alone. Across the eu, be-

tween 1990 and 2015, the total forested and

wooded area grew by 90,000 square kilo-

metres—an area roughly the size of Portu-

gal. Almost every country has seen its for-

ests grow over the period.

In the minds of city-dwellers and green

voters, this is self-evidently a good thing.

Certainly, the mass planting of trees on a

global scale has the potential to help ab-

sorb the carbon-dioxide emissions that

drive global warming. Deep within the Bar-

onnies Provençales natural park, where

rare species such as the black vulture can

now occasionally be spotted above higher

peaks, things are not quite that simple.

Some of the 34,000 people who live in-

side the park see species such as the black

pine, a drought-resistant conifer that en-

croaches on pastureland, as a pest. During

the dry summer months, there are also

worries that unmanaged forest growth in-

creases the risk of fire. “The fact that forests

are growing here can be problematic,” says

Audrey Matt, in charge of forests at the

park. “It all depends which way round you

look at it.”

Indeed, when the park was first created,

local opposition groups were vocal. There

were (unfounded) fears, recalls one local

resident, that it would mean an end to

hunting and would bring stricter environ-

mental rules. An association calling itself

“Free Baronnies, No Park” denounced a

“steamroller” approach to its creation. It

took nearly two decades of planning to set

up the park and, even then, 44 of the 130

communes that lie within its boundaries

initially refused to join in. A dozen or so

have since changed their minds.

Managing the forest is complex. The

park covers a web of local governments.

Most of the trees grow on private land, be-

yond the reach of rangers, and are therefore

usually left untended. Competing de-

mands, between those seeking to protect

nature at all costs and others with jobs in

logging or related industries, are not easy

to reconcile. Paradoxically, France is a net

importer of wood, something the French

government wants to change. Yet last Octo-

ber employees of France’s National Forest-

ry Office marched in the nearby town of Va-

lence to protest against the increasing

commercial exploitation of forests, as well

as job and budget cuts.

The French have a long and ambiguous

link to their forests, a source of conflict

during the revolution in the eighteenth

century between nobles and peasants seek-

ing firewood and land for grazing. The first

serious attempt to protect them, a decree

passed in 1669 under the ancien régime, was

in reality designed to secure timber for

Louis XIV’s naval ships. Then, as now, those

with a long-term interest in exploiting for-

ests have a powerful incentive to conserve

and replenish them. 7

BUIS-LES-BARONNIES

France’s forests are getting bigger

France

Into the trees

Nature is winning