Editorial
AT THE END OF 2011 – THE INTERNATIONALYEAR OF FORESTS
Abstract
When we announced in the last double issue of Forestry Journal all the activities facing the forestry profession in the International Year of Forests, we also expressed our hope that the profession would take this opportunity to introduce itself both to the world and home public in the best possible light.Croatia, at whose proposal the UN declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests, organized a well attended photo exhibition “The Forest in the Eye of the Forester”in the UN building in New York. We reported about the very positive echoes of the exhibition in the last issue. During the past years, the forestry profession has hosted numerous excursions, international scientific-specialist symposia, student exchanges and many other events so as to bring the forestry profession closer to the world forestry public. The Croatian Forestry Society headquarters and its branches, the Academy of Forestry Sciences, the company Hrvatske Šume, the Croatian Chamber of Forestry and Wood Technology Engineers and the competent Ministry in particular have endeavoured to present the forestry profession by staging a variety of organized events.
If we were to assess how all these activities were treated by the media, we would have to settle for badly or poorly at best, naturally with some fine exceptions. For example, it is symptomatic that bold headlines and longer forestry-related articlesin the print media treatforestry issues only in the negative context, where space is given only to some self-proclaimed experts wrapped in the cloak of interest groups. We do not claim that there have been absolutely no faults in the management with state companies, but the mentioned texts have primarily endorsed private business interest, demonstrated gross ignorance of how the forestry sector functions (the sector of vital importance for the lives of people in rural areas), and most importantly, showed neglect for general interest contained in non-market forest functions.Everything is subordinate to profit, while the idea of concession on forests is repeatedly being emphasised. We expressed our opinion of this idea in the editorial of Forestry Journal 1-2/2011; we also treated the type and mission of the state company: is it a public corporation or private company?In the TV programme “At 2 on Sunday”, as part of their pre-election campaigns the employers’representative and some political parties urgedthat the means for OKFŠ (non-market forest functions) be revoked and that in the transitional period of 3 to 4 years, an identical amount be paid as profit into the state budget by the state company.We fully support the abolition of certain irrationalities in forest management and the practice of appointing politically acceptable cadres; at the same time, we find it unjustifiableto talk only about profit and neglect the issue of sustainable management, which requires investing into forests, financing forest management on karst, investing into fire prevention and preservation of non-market forest functions, etc. The idea of profit only, shrouded in the motto of general interest, in reality hides the wish to exonerate the private entrepreneurial sector from financing goods of general benefit. True, this is a legitimate way of thinking, but in this case the local authorities should forget about the annuities from forests which they are currently collecting, timber processing entrepreneurs should likewise forget about their debts to forestry, absurd terms of payment and cheap raw material at dumped pricesdictated by the state rather than by the market at the expense of forestry, and rural inhabitants should cure themselves of treating a company as a social institution not only as regards employment but also as regards all the other activities covered by a rural forest office. The state will eventually have to find a different source of some 100 million kuna a year for fire prevention (currently provided by the company HrvatskeŠume), solve the problems of water fees and of financing forest management on karst, as well asensure that private forest owners also pay into the budget. After all, the Forest Law is equally binding for all forest owners and the Constitution stipulates that all forests are of special interest for the Republic of Croatia.
There is still no development strategy, which we already discussed in the Editorial of Forestry Journal 5–6/2011; in fact, not one political party has put this strategy on the agenda of their electoral programmes. Forestry and the management with an immense national treasure that covers almost one half of continental Croatia are mentioned only in passing. Yet, the Danube-Sava canal again features high despite the negative opinion of the profession.
There are a number of topical issues, which the Croatian Forestry Society discusses at every Management Board and Assembly meeting and tries to find the best solutions: surely, the profession deserves to be heard.
In the hope that the voice of the profession will be heededin the coming year, we wish all the readers of Forestry Journal a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Successful 2012.
Editorial Board
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
75074
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2011.
Visits: 1.359 *