4th Regional Conference of Private Forest Owners of the SE Europe Held in Bjelovar!

Croatian Wood Cluster organized the 4th Regional Conference of Private Forest Owners of South Eastern Europe, which was held in Bjelovar on April 1st, as part of the 19th International Spring Bjelovar Fair. The conference was opened by the Minister of Agriculture, professor Davor Romic, PhD, and the opening ceremony was attended by a range of distinguished guests, including deputy minister Ivica Francetic, Bjelovar County Prefect Damir Bajs, President of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture Branko Hrg, deputy mayor of Bjelovar Jasna Visnjevic, Ambassador of the Republic of Macedonia to the Republic of Croatia, Daniela Karagjozoska, envoy of the Croatian Parliament President Franjo Lucic and many others.Among the more than a 100 participants, interested forest owners expressed dissatisfaction with the treatment of state institutions and difficulties in private forests management, and besides them, the conference was attended by representatives of private companies in the field of wood processing and production and processing of biomass, representatives of local government and state institutions, national and regional associations, academics and others. Addressed topics include seedlings procurement, the possibilities for cooperation among agricultural and forestry sectors, EU measures intended for forestry and dynamics of tendering, the limitations of application of private forest owners, the certification of private forests, short rotation crops, and the advantages and disadvantages of the same. Experiences of private forests management in Slovenia and the Republic of Srpska were presented as well. “The Reasons of Private Forests Dereliction and the Necessary Improvement Measures” was the name of the panel discussion, which was part of the conference program as well, and participants were: President of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture Branko Hrg, head of the Department of Forest Management Mario Bozic, PhD, Goran Gregurovic from the Ministry of Agriculture and Mirko Habijanec, private forest owner. The Ministry of Agriculture expressed great interest in the current sectoral issues, as well as the hope that the cooperation between institutions and forest owners will deepen and result in concrete solutions.