The important role of forests in mitigating and adapting to climate changes is recognized and widely accepted. Therefore, it becomes a subject of universal interest and support. However, in the national strategies relating to climate change, the importance of the forestry sector in mitigating these changes is quite often not discussed in detail. In addition, the problem of climate change is not fully represented and included in national forestry policies. The aim of this research was to determine the compliance and differences of strategic and legislative frameworks in forestry and related sectors, relating to climate change mitigation in the EU and Serbia. At the EU level, there are two strategies and a policy framework, and in Serbia, eight sectoral strategies, referring and discussing the climate change mitigation through forestry. At the same time, these issues are highlighted as the primary objective, only in the Climate and Energy Package of the EU and the Forestry Development Strategy in Serbia. In terms of legislative framework in Serbia, two laws have climate change mitigation through forestry as the primary objective, while for the analyzed relevant EU legislation, this is a secondary objective. In Serbia, only the Forest law has a direct impact on climate change mitigation through forestry, while at EU level, there is no regulation, directive or communication, with the same direct influence.
Klimatske promjene su jedan od najvećih izazova za postizanje ciljeva održivog razvoja. Formiranje odgovarajućih institucionalnih okvira za upravljanje klimatskim promjenama, koji uključuju i koordiniraju brojne interese i aktivnosti različitih aktera, razina i sektora, problem je i za zemlje jugoistočne Europe. Bosna i Hercegovina (BiH), Hrvatska, Slovenija i Srbija imaju značajne prirodne resurse koji su bili ugroženi proteklih godina zbog prirodnih katastrofa, što je utjecalo i na sektor šumarstva. Cilj rada je proučiti institucionalne okvire u šumarstvu i zaštiti prirode, kao i stavove ispitanika o kompetencijama relevantnih institucija i organizacija, identificirati potrebe za poboljšanjem postojećeg okvira i ocijeniti njihove interese i utjecaje u procesu upravljanja klimatskim promjenama. Prikupljanje podataka provedeno je korištenjem intervjua, u razdoblju od studenog 2016. do travnja 2017. godine. Protokol za intervju sastojao se od 22 pitanja podijeljenih u pet skupina. U svrhu ovoga rada analizirani su odgovori na pitanja u vezi s institucionalnim okvirima za upravljanje klimatskim promjenama u šumarstvu i zaštiti prirode. Uzorak je činilo 29 ispitanika (Federacija BiH-8, Hrvatska-6, Slovenija-5, Srbija-10), odnosno predstavnika javnih uprava i javnih službi u šumarstvu i zaštiti prirode, poduzeća i ustanova za gospodarenje državnim šumama i upravljanje zaštićenim područjima, obrazovnih i istraživačkih organizacija te organizacija civilnog sektora. Ispitanici su odabrani probnim uzorkovanjem (uzorak na bazi vrijednosnog suda). Ispitanici su bili predstavnici institucija i organizacija na nacionalnoj razini upravljanja u šumarstvu i zaštiti prirode, koji su izravno ili neizravno povezani s problematikom klimatskih promjena u odabranim oblastima. O postojećim institucionalnim okvirima, 52,4% ispitanika nema pozitivno mišljenje, a 85,7% se zalaže za njihovo unapređenje, u smislu poboljšanja suradnje i koordinacije između različitih sektora, institucija i organizacija. Značajne su razlike u procjeni interesa i utjecaja institucija i organizacija u upravljanju klimatskim promjenama među ispitanicima iz Slovenije i Hrvatske, kao i onima iz Federacije BiH i Srbije. Ispitanici iz područja zaštite prirode procjenjuju da je interes veći u odnosu na predstavnike šumarskog sektora (ispitanici iz područja zaštite prirode smatraju da je interes "veoma visok" – prosječna ocjena 4,6, a iz sektora šumarstva da je "visok" – prosječna ocjena 4,1). Potrebna su daljnja istraživanja o suradnji i koordinaciji svih sudionika na različitim razinama upravljanja, kao i drugih elemenata koji, uz institucionalne okvire, dovode do stvaranja odgovornog sustava upravljanja klimatskim promjenama i rješavanja različitih izazova klimatskih promjena. ; Global environmental and ecological problems such as climate change and other related issues (e.g. biodiversity losses) do not recognize state boundaries. Therefore, intentions to address these problems require a multi-actor, multi-sector and multilevel approach. The concept that enables joint effort against these problems implies an active participation of all stakeholders, establishes the rules for shared responsibilities and strives to make efficient and effective procedures for addressing these issues is known as "governance" (Mutabdžija, 2012).Climate change and occurance of extreme events are presenting a threat to the natural resources, exposing the vulnerabilities of current resource governance regimes, including also forestry and nature conservation. The occurance of extreme events in last several years thretened the natural resources and impacted the forestry sector in all four selected countries of Southeast Europe (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia). This has provided a further arguments for understanding the institutional framework for climate change governance in forestry and nature conservation as important element in dealing with uncertanties posed by the climate change challenges on natural resources.Hence, the aim of the paper is to examine the institutional frameworks of forestry and nature conservation, as well as the attitudes of respondents about the competences of the relevant institutions and organizations, to identify the need to improve the existing framework and to evaluate their interests and impacts in climate change governance.In this research were used individual, structured interviews as a research technique in collecting the primary data. The questionnaire consisted of 22 questions, divided into 5 groups. For the purposes of this paper, responses to questions related to institutional frameworks for climate change governance in forestry and nature conservation are analyzed. The sample consisted of 29 representatives (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – 8, Croatia – 6, Serbia – 10, Slovenia – 5) from public administrations and services in forestry and nature conservation, enterprises and organization for forest and protected area management, educational and research organizations, and non-governmental organizations. The respondents were selected by judgemental sampling. Current institutional framework for climate change governance comprises of various institutions and organizations in all analyzed countries (Table 1). In selected countries, there is a clear division of responsibilities between public administration institutions in forestry and nature conservation (these institutions are directly or indirectly are related to forestry). There is a number of common primary objectives within the given competencies common to the same organizational category (Table 2), in all four countries. Despite current institutional and organizational variaty and competency alignment between different institutions and organizations, there is a need for further improvement of institutional framework for climate change governance through cooperation and coordination, accross different sectors, institutions and organizations, as stated by the respondents attittudes (Table 3 and 4). Respondents attitudes towards the interest and influence of institutions/organizations on climate change governance are mostly showing a visible interest but indicating challenges in providing suitable inflluence (Table 5). Also, visible discrepancy in assessment of the interest and influence of institutions and organizations on climate change governance is between the respondents from Slovenia and Croatia at one side and respondents from Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia at the other side, indicates differences in inclusion of climate change challenges accross different competency levels. Regardless of the category of institutions and organizations, the respondents recognized the importance of the investigated issues and they assessed its interest as "high" and "very high" (Table 6).Further development of suitable institutional frameworks for climate change governance in forestry and nature conservation needs additional attention especially in the field of multilevel coordination between different actors and their activities, as well as the acknowledgment of potentially significant influence forestry sector might have in climate change governance.
The financing of protected area (PA) management includes the interaction of different actors that are involved in the process of management and financing, i.e., from the management framework to the mechanisms of financing. The management framework sets the basic preconditions for PA management, while the mechanisms of financing represent the ways of financing PAs based on the long-term and sustainable conditions. The management of PAs in Serbia has mostly been done by public enterprises (PE). It was given to non-governmental organizations (NGO) for the first time in the late 1990s. Today, the management is carried out by different managers from the public sector (PS) to the private sector (PrS). This research deals with different financing mechanisms present in PAs in Serbia. Additionally, it deals with the differences in the financing between different management actors (MA) in order to establish the best financing practices in the PA management system in Serbia. The results indicate that public enterprise "Srbijašume" (PES) has the lowest average number of financial sources, unlike public enterprise "Vojvodinašume" (PEV). Regarding the average amount of financing, other managers from the public sector (OPS) have the largest amount of financing, while other public enterprises (OPE) record the smallest amount of their own financing. In order to improve the use of mechanisms for the PA management system financing, additional training for the use of funds is proposed at national and international level, as well as external, i.e., additional engagement of agencies that would prepare projects at international level. It is also proposed to establish a specific mechanism – a fund intended for nature protection. ; Financiranje upravljanja zaštićenim područjima (ZP) uključuje interakciju različitih dionika koji su uključeni u proces upravljanja i financiranja, tj. od okvira upravljanja do mehanizama financiranja. Upravljački okvir postavlja osnovne preduvjete za upravljanje ZP, dok mehanizmi financiranja predstavljaju načine financiranja ZP na temelju dugoročnih i održivih uvjeta. Upravljanje ZP može se delegirati organizaciji, pojedincu ili zajednici, koja funkcionira u skladu s nizom zakona, pravila i / ili tradicijom. Isto tako, upravitelji ZP mogu se podijeliti na temelju toga tko donosi odluke i može se smatrati odgovornim. Jedna od važnih komponenti upravljanja ZP predstavlja održivo financiranje, što predstavlja temelj za ostvarivanje zaštite prirode. Održivo financiranje definira se kao sposobnost pružanja dovoljnih, stabilnih i dugoročnih financijskih izvora. Upravljanje ZP u Srbiji uglavnom provode javna poduzeća, dok je krajem devedesetih godina u Srbiji upravljanje ZP po prvi put dodijeljeno nevladinim organizacijama. Danas upravljanje provode različiti upravitelji iz javnog sektora i privatnog sektora. Planirano povećanje ZP u Srbiji uključuje skoro dvostruko veću površinu od sadašnje pokrivenosti i ta će činjenica stvoriti dodatnu obavezu za postojeće i nove upravitelje u budućem razdoblju, jer je održivo upravljanje ZP postalo izazov, kako sa upravljačkog, tako i sa financijskog gledišta. Ovo istraživanje bavi se različitim mehanizmima financiranja koji su prisutni u ZP u Srbiji. Također, bavi se razlikama u financiranju između različitih grupa upravitelja, kako bi se uspostavile najbolje prakse financiranja u sustavu upravljanja ZP u Srbiji. U fazi prikupljanja podataka korištena je anketa od vrata do vrata. Istraživanje se provodilo u dvije faze. U prvoj fazi, populacija za istraživanje definirana je na temelju registra ZP, od čega su izdvojena 63 ZP. U drugoj fazi, uzorak za istraživanje definiran je na temelju primjera "dobre prakse" upravitelja ZP i predstavnika javne uprave i službi, kao i organizacija u sustavu upravljanja ZP. Za obradu podataka korištena je deskriptivna statistika, frekvencijska analiza, Kruskal-Wallis-ov test i Mann-Whitney-jev U test. Kruskal-Wallis-ov test korišten je za određivanje razlika između svih grupa upravitelja, dok je Mann-Whitney-jev U test korišten za određivanje razlika između pojedinih grupa upravitelja. Rezultati pokazuju da javno poduzeće "Srbijašume" ima najmanji prosječan broj izvora financiranja, za razliku od javnog poduzeća "Vojvodinašume" (tablica 1). Što se tiče prosječnih iznosa financiranja, najveći dio financiranja imaju ostali upravitelji iz javnog sektora, dok ostala javna poduzeća bilježe najmanji iznos vlastitog financiranja (tablica 2). Na temelju rezultata prve faze istraživanja predloženi su elementi unaprjeđenja sustava upravljanja ZP za mehanizme financiranja (tablica 3). Predstavnici upravitelja ZP, javne uprave i službi, kao i organizacija, smatraju da politička volja donositelja odluka, kao i nepostojanje razumijevanja države za potrebe financiranja ZP, ima velik utjecaj na unaprjeđenje postojećih mehanizama financiranja. Također, predstavnici sve tri skupine vjeruju da lokalne vlasti nisu ni uključene u financiranje ZP-a i da postoji nedovoljna zainteresiranost drugih institucija. Kao problem u unaprjeđenju korištenja domaćih i međunarodnih izvora financiranja, predstavnici upravitelja ZP vide potrebu za dodatnim istraživanjima i problemom nedovoljne izobrazbe upravitelja, za podnošenje projektnih ideja, koje su vezane uz nedovoljnu informatičku pismenost.
The importance of renewable energy resources has increased over the last decades due to the European Union renewable energy policy and particularly its climate change mitigation objectives. There is a need to mobilize additional wood resources from private forests in order to meet ambitious renewable energy targets and the demand for wood. Due to the conditions prevailing in privately owned forests in Slovenia and Serbia characterized by a large number of still disorganized private forest owners with fragmented and small-scaled forest properties, wood mobilization strongly depends on owners' organization and cooperation. The purpose of this study is to determine the possibilities for wood mobilization from private forest properties in Serbia and Slovenia, and propose organizational models on this basis and experience from the selected case countries. Surveys were conducted in Slovenia (n=622) and Serbia (n=248) on random samples of private forest owners. Analysis of wood mobilization potentials in Serbia and Slovenia showed that the harvesting intensity in private forests is below the potentials, therefore the preconditions to increase the level of wood mobilization exist. The main obstacles to the increase in the current level of wood mobilization in Serbia are biodiversity and the protective forest function, as well as high acquisition costs, also stated as the main obstacle in Slovenia. Moreover, it appeared that the majority of private forest owners in both countries believe that better logistics and infrastructure and interest association of private forest owners are potential solutions leading to an increase in the level of mobilization. Four models of private forest owner organization are proposed and they take into account the characteristics and attitudes of owners as well as activities in supply chain, including timber sales arrangement, construction and maintenance of forest roads, harvesting, measurement and quality assessment of timber, transportation, invoicing and payments.
In the last two decades, attention on forests and ownership rights has increased in different domains of international policy, particularly in relation to achieving the global sustainable development goals. This paper looks at the changes in forest-specific legislation applicable to regular productive forests, across 28 European countries. We compare the legal framework applicable in the mid-1990s with that applicable in 2015, using the Property Rights Index in Forestry (PRIF) to measure changes across time and space. The paper shows that forest owners in most western European countries already had high decision-making power in the mid-1990s, following deregulation trends from the 1980s; and for the next two decades, distribution of rights remained largely stable. For these countries, the content and direction of changes indicate that the main pressure on forest-focused legislation comes from environmental discourses (e.g. biodiversity and climate change policies). In contrast, former socialist countries in the mid-1990s gave lower decision-making powers to forest owners than in any of the Western Europe countries; over the next 20 years these show remarkable changes in management, exclusion and withdrawal rights. As a result of these changes, there is no longer a clear line between western and former socialist countries with respect to the national governance systems used to address private forest ownership. Nevertheless, with the exception of Baltic countries which have moved towards the western forest governance system, most of the former socialist countries still maintain a state-centred approach in private forest management. Overall, most of the changes we identified in the last two decades across Europe were recorded in the categories of management rights and exclusion rights. These changes reflect the general trend in European forest policies to expand and reinforce the landowners' individual rights, while preserving minimal rights for other categories of forest users; and to promote the use of financial instruments when targeting policy goals related to the environmental discourse.
In: Nichiforel , L , Deuffic , P , Thorsen , B J , Weiss , G , Hujala , T , Keary , K , Lawrence , A , Avdibegović , M , Dobšinská , Z , Feliciano , D , Górriz-Mifsud , E , Hoogstra-Klein , M , Hrib , M , Jarský , V , Jodłowski , K , Lukmine , D , Pezdevšek Malovrh , Š , Nedeljković , J , Nonić , D , Krajter Ostoić , S , Pukall , K , Rondeux , J , Samara , T , Sarvašová , Z , Scriban , R E , Šilingienė , R , Sinko , M , Stojanovska , M , Stojanovski , V , Stoyanov , T , Teder , M , Vennesland , B , Wilhelmsson , E , Wilkes-Allemann , J , Živojinović , I & Bouriaud , L 2020 , ' Two decades of forest-related legislation changes in European countries analysed from a property rights perspective ' , Forest Policy and Economics , vol. 115 , 102146 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2020.102146
In the last two decades, attention on forests and ownership rights has increased in different domains of international policy, particularly in relation to achieving the global sustainable development goals. This paper looks at the changes in forest-specific legislation applicable to regular productive forests, across 28 European countries. We compare the legal framework applicable in the mid-1990s with that applicable in 2015, using the Property Rights Index in Forestry (PRIF) to measure changes across time and space. The paper shows that forest owners in most western European countries already had high decision-making power in the mid-1990s, following deregulation trends from the 1980s; and for the next two decades, distribution of rights remained largely stable. For these countries, the content and direction of changes indicate that the main pressure on forest-focused legislation comes from environmental discourses (e.g. biodiversity and climate change policies). In contrast, former socialist countries in the mid-1990s gave lower decision-making powers to forest owners than in any of the Western Europe countries; over the next 20 years these show remarkable changes in management, exclusion and withdrawal rights. As a result of these changes, there is no longer a clear line between western and former socialist countries with respect to the national governance systems used to address private forest ownership. Nevertheless, with the exception of Baltic countries which have moved towards the western forest governance system, most of the former socialist countries still maintain a state-centred approach in private forest management. Overall, most of the changes we identified in the last two decades across Europe were recorded in the categories of management rights and exclusion rights. These changes reflect the general trend in European forest policies to expand and reinforce the landowners' individual rights, while preserving minimal rights for other categories of forest users; and to promote the use of financial instruments when targeting policy goals related to the environmental discourse.
In the last two decades, attention on forests and ownership rights has increased in different domains of international policy, particularly in relation to achieving the global sustainable development goals. This paper looks at the changes in forest-specific legislation applicable to regular productive forests, across 28 European countries. We compare the legal framework applicable in the mid-1990s with that applicable in 2015, using the Property Rights Index in Forestry (PRIF) to measure changes across time and space. The paper shows that forest owners in most western European countries already had high decision-making power in the mid-1990s, following deregulation trends from the 1980s; and for the next two decades, distribution of rights remained largely stable. For these countries, the content and direction of changes indicate that the main pressure on forest-focused legislation comes from environmental discourses (e.g. biodiversity and climate change policies). In contrast, former socialist countries in the mid-1990s gave lower decision-making powers to forest owners than in any of the Western Europe countries; over the next 20 years these show remarkable changes in management, exclusion and withdrawal rights. As a result of these changes, there is no longer a clear line between western and former socialist countries with respect to the national governance systems used to address private forest ownership. Nevertheless, with the exception of Baltic countries which have moved towards the western forest governance system, most of the former socialist countries still maintain a state-centred approach in private forest management. Overall, most of the changes we identified in the last two decades across Europe were recorded in the categories of management rights and exclusion rights. These changes reflect the general trend in European forest policies to expand and reinforce the landowners' individual rights, while preserving minimal rights for other categories of forest users; and to promote the use of financial instruments when targeting policy goals related to the environmental discourse.
In the last two decades, attention on forests and ownership rights has increased in different domains of international policy, particularly in relation to achieving the global sustainable development goals. This paper looks at the changes in forest-specific legislation applicable to regular productive forests, across 28 European countries. We compare the legal framework applicable in the mid-1990s with that applicable in 2015, using the Property Rights Index in Forestry (PRIF) to measure changes across time and space. The paper shows that forest owners in most western European countries already had high decision-making power in the mid-1990s, following deregulation trends from the 1980s; and for the next two decades, distribution of rights remained largely stable. For these countries, the content and direction of changes indicate that the main pressure on forest-focused legislation comes from environmental discourses (e.g. biodiversity and climate change policies). In contrast, former socialist countries in the mid-1990s gave lower decision-making powers to forest owners than in any of the Western Europe countries; over the next 20 years these show remarkable changes in management, exclusion and withdrawal rights. As a result of these changes, there is no longer a clear line between western and former socialist countries with respect to the national governance systems used to address private forest ownership. Nevertheless, with the exception of Baltic countries which have moved towards the western forest governance system, most of the former socialist countries still maintain a state-centred approach in private forest management. Overall, most of the changes we identified in the last two decades across Europe were recorded in the categories of management rights and exclusion rights. These changes reflect the general trend in European forest policies to expand and reinforce the landowners' individual rights, while preserving minimal rights for other categories of forest users; and to promote the use of financial instruments when targeting policy goals related to the environmental discourse.
In the last two decades, attention on forests and ownership rights has increased in different domains of international policy, particularly in relation to achieving the global sustainable development goals. This paper looks at the changes in forest-specific legislation applicable to regular productive forests, across 28 European countries. We compare the legal framework applicable in the mid-1990s with that applicable in 2015, using the Property Rights Index in Forestry (PRIF) to measure changes across time and space. The paper shows that forest owners in most western European countries already had high decision-making power in the mid-1990s, following deregulation trends from the 1980s; and for the next two decades, distribution of rights remained largely stable. For these countries, the content and direction of changes indicate that the main pressure on forest-focused legislation comes from environmental discourses (e.g. biodiversity and climate change policies). In contrast, former socialist countries in the mid-1990s gave lower decision-making powers to forest owners than in any of the Western Europe countries; over the next 20 years these show remarkable changes in management, exclusion and withdrawal rights. Nevertheless, with the exception of Baltic countries which have moved towards the western forest governance system, most of the former socialist countries still maintain a state-centred approach in private forest management. Despite this diverse setting of property rights, there is no longer a clear line between western and former socialist countries with respect to the national governance systems used to address private forest ownership. Overall, most of the changes we identified in the last two decades across Europe were recorded in the categories of management rights and exclusion rights. These changes reflect the general trend in European forest policies to expand and reinforce the landowners' individual rights, while preserving minimal rights for other categories of forest users; and to make use ...