Press Conference: “Evaluation of Croatian forests in the EU climate policy and the new approach of cascading use of wood”

Croatian MEP Marijana Petir, Marijan Kavran, director of the Croatian Wood Cluster and professor Ivica Tikvić, Professor at the Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb were speakers at the press conference held yesterday on September 19 at the Westin Hotel in Zagreb. Main topics were the model of cascading use of wood adopted in July by the European Commission, the need for greater evaluation of Croatian forests in the latest EU climate policy package and the occurrence of bark beetles that endangers almost 30% of the forests in Gorski Kotar.

The model of optimized cascading use of wood is the result of a new and multidisciplinary approach to forest management at the EU level, which seeks to extend life cycle of wood products. The model aims to accomplish that wood products are used several times before being converted into energy or disposed, which is not in accordance with energetic approach,  said Marijan Kavran in the introduction.

The European Union adopts a series legislative packages in the field of circular economy, renewable energy and energy efficiency recently, said Marijana Petir, stressing that, during the presentation of the climate package, she asked Commissioner Cañete for better evaluation of Croatian forests in the European climate policy. The long-term forests, prevalent in Croatia, are an important carbon sink and should be included in the Croatian quota for reduction GHG emissions, said Petir.

Croatia is facing the challenge of how to further organize and what to improve in the field of forestry, said professor Tikvić. Forestry and forest based industries are an important sector in the EU and in Croatia, not only in terms of GDP, but also in terms of employment, rural development, nature conservation and environmental protection (forest based industries account for 3.6 % of GDP in Croatia and 7.5 % in the EU).

In recent months the attack of spruce bark beetles in the forests of Gorski Kotar poses a threat of destruction and devastation of the forests in Gorski Kotar. Estimates suggest that this pest threaten about 30% of all forests, and in the town of Čabar area more than half of all forest are affected. Urgent and harmonized measures of environmental, forestry and other relevant sectors are needed, in order to implement effective management and protection systems.