Bosschap, board for forests and nature

lntroduction
The Bosschap is the industrial board for the Conservation of Forests and Nature, legally based in the Dutch lndustrial Organizations Act. The Bosschap has legislative powers; it can draw up rules and regulations that apply to all the enterprises it unites. The Bosschap’s sole task is to serve the communal interests of the forest and nature owners and forest contracters and their employees, being the organizations that maintain Dutch forests and nature areas. It does so by mainly developing all kinds of ‘products’. The Bosschap, for example, has published a handbook on safety measures when working in forests, facilitates the negotiations between employers and employees about their annual salary and other working conditions en sometimes lobbies for better nature laws.

Background information on industrial boards can be found on the website of the Social and Economic Council of the Netherlands. The board of directors of the Bosschap consists of representatives of the enterprises it unites.

Mission statement
The Bosschap serves the interests of both employers and employees working at enterprises in forest and nature conservation, in an effective, efficient and pro active manner, with emphasis on the different contributions the Dutch forests and nature ares have towards biodiversity, scenic value and timber production.

Enterprises united in the the Bosschap
A forest and nature enterprise in the Netherlands is defined in two ways: Every ownership of over 5 hectares of woodland and/or nature is regarded as a enterprise, as well as every forestry contractor with an annual turnover of more than € 11.345. Both categories of enterprises pay a mandatory ‘membership fee’, which pays for the Bosschap activities. At the end of 2002 about 1800 forest and nature owners, repesenting approximately 270.000 hectares of woodland, were united within the Bosschap. The Bosschap furthermore united 320 forest contracters at that time.

Contactdetails
Bosschap, board for forests and nature
PO box 65
3970 AB Driebergen
The Netherlands
phone: + 31 30 69 30 130
fax: + 31 30 69 33 621
E-mail: algemeen@bosschap.nl