The previous analysis of the situation of the sector reveals that one of the weaknesses of the value chain of natural resin in the territory SUDOE is the group of resin workers and their precarious employment situation. There are currently about 1,200 active workers in the SUDOE space. The resin extraction work is adapted to forest multifunctionality and this activity reports indirect benefits to the society with its contribution to the maintenance of forests, especially the defence against forest fires. Industry professionals want the political administrations to recognise the positive externalities they generate, to facilitate the exercise of their multifunctional activity and to implement territorial contracts so as to complete and stabilise their work, training and guiding programs, and technological improvements.
The second task force project SustForest Plus is proposed as a support to the group of workers. It develops a set of products that set up a real plan for the improvement of work quality and sustainability of the profession.
Resin Workers
The implementation of support measures for the extraction of resin requires a good knowledge of the group of workers, their qualities and weaknesses, in order to adjust and design possible programs and improvement actions intended for this group. For this purpose, a sociological study of the resin working population is carried out in the SUDOE space, in order to give a socio-professional description of the current workers and thus guide actions and institutional policies and finally design measures in SustForest Plus to support the group more efficiently.
Institutional support system for the extraction of natural resins
A guide for the elaboration of regulatory standards of the territorial contract adapted to resin activity is being developed. This territorial contract will channel various funding sources applicable to the extraction activity towards resin workers, by subscribing to individual and specific commitments with forestry administrations.
Positive externalities generated by the resin activity within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy
SustForest Plus addresses the study of the positive externalities of resin extraction, which represent public benefits in environmental and social terms, especially with the defence against forest fires, a service that forestry producers and resin workers provide to the society but that the society does not pay for it. The recognition of the positive externalities generated by the resins activity would open a few doors to new sources of income for the group of resin workers, and therefore to an improvement in their working conditions.
Manual for integration of the resin extraction in the defence system against forest fires
An intense human presence in the pine forests would be guaranteed by the resin extraction activity and other associated activities that prove that resin workers are potentially very useful local actors to defend forest areas against wildfires if they are properly integrated into the strategy of forest fire fighting. The recognition of the resin extraction activity in the defence system against wildfires and the governmental entities’ guarantee to include it in rural development programs would imply the opening of a financing source to hire resin workers, that’s why this manual contributes to the improvement of their working conditions.
Innovative resiners
It is proposed to carry out a social innovation program with a bottom-up approach intended mainly for the community of resin workers of the SUDOE space and, secondly, for the entrepreneurial community in general. The objective is the generation of technical ideas to improve the performance and ergonomics of the resin extraction, as well as generating business solutions with new business models, new products or new forms of commercialisation, which will improve the economic viability of the resin extraction activity.
Success stories
Resiners often work in places where the rural exodus has led to a scarce human presence which consequently has led to the extinction of certain important territorial functions. The reactivation of these functions in isolation is a hard task, but a greater sustainability will be achieved if it is integrated in a multifunctional perspective within the resin extraction activity. It is proposed to make a detailed analysis of the resiners’ work schedule based on specific cases, to evaluate the compatibility with the other complementary functions.
Module for the resin entrepreneurship and cooperativism
A pilot course will be designed and given and a manual for the programming of a training module for improvement and labour integration in the resin sector will be published.
Mechanisation
In SustForest Plus, we’re working on the evolution of the mechanized pick-up trolley developed within the framework of the project SustForest.
Progress in stimulants
Resin stimulants are one of the key elements to improve both profitability and working conditions in the resin tapping process.
In SustForest Plus, the study of the effects of new formulations of stimulants will be carried out.
Traditional tools
A digital document of technical characterisation and manufacturing process of the traditional tapping tools will be edited: tracer… scraper… billhook, mallet, stonecutters hammer, scraper and cramp iron.
