WORLD DAY OF FORESTS: Croatia Needs to Protect Forests in Laws

March 21 is the United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Forests, which promotes the importance of forests and trees in our lives. The day addresses current issues such as deforestation, protection of forests and urban green spaces. Forests are gaining more and more importance in the EU policies since they are recognized as the main carbon sink. Nearly 48% of the Croatian territory is forest, and Croatia is proud of the 250-years-tradition of sustainable forest management.

The EU highly appreciates its forests and we hope that the national targets in forestry will contribute to the EU’s overall goal, to reduce emissions by at least 40% by 2030. Croatian Wood Cluster considers that current proposal for the new Law on Forests should take this goals into account, and give more attention to the protection of forests and health conditions, as well as future sustainable management, which, at least until now, was the case. Croatian Wood Cluster expresses worries regarding the announcement of commercialization of forests, but the profession expresses the hope that the legislator will recognize the invaluable ecological, environmental and social importance of forests.