Annex 1

Phase 1: Building consensus on priority issues at sub-regional level

Objective:

The purpose of this first phase was to:

• have a common view and understanding of the current situation in CEEC
• state and reach some consensus on important and priority issues at sub-regional level

Tool:

Affinity diagram. This tool is used to produce and organize in a "visual way" a large amount of information, ideas and issues

Focus question:

"What are the main problematic topics (=priority issues) that forestry sector has to face?"

All priority issues identified by participants in sub-groups, reviewed in plenary and grouped into categories are listed below. This final list reconfirmed in whole group served as base for voting. The participants had to vote for 1 category and 2 priority issues. The number between brackets shows the number of individual votes (on category level, on issue level).

Comments:

It is interesting to note that:

• The categories which included more priority issues were not specially those one which were most voted

• Four categories of priority issues can be perceived as real priority, since they were recurrently voted at both level: category and issue:
• Multi-sector
• Policy & Law
• Economic/Finance & Investment
• Communication


• Private forestry is a topic that seemed to interest all participants even if none of them voted for it.
• For Institution & Capacity and Education & Training, it was shown, further in the workshop, that those 2 topics were intermediary steps to reach other priorities.

Results - Identified issues at sub-regional level by category (number in bracket corresponds to the number of votes ascribed either to the category or the issue):

Multi-sector (6)

• Implementation of cross-sectoral responsibility for forests and forestry issues (5)
• Lack of inter-sectoral institutions/mechanisms to coordinate (2)
• To recognize the cross-sectoral nature of SFM (1)
• Forest clusters = cross-sectoral approach (1)
  • Forest protection
  • The needs for evaluation all services and goods provided by forests
  • Valuation of non-wood benefits and other services and goods offered by forests to society
  • Forest contribution to sustainable development
  • Low importance of forestry sector (marginalization)
  • Balance between interests of timber industry and environmentalists
  • Health state of forest ecosystem
  • Income contribution of forests to sustainable development
  • Non-optimal share of forest cover
  • Bio-fuels and bio-energy

POLICY AND LAW (6)

• Balancing private owner ship and public interest on biodiversity conservation (4)
• Long term vision: strategic planning on priorities, functions (control and management) - strategic planning in accordance with biodiversity conservation, increase land cover (3)
• Rural development (1)
• The forest policy is not a main policy in the general economic development policy for the country (1)
• Constitutional limitations
• Low share of forested land and fragmentation of forest
• Cut forest regulations by half; there still will be enough
• Local people have poor opportunities to benefit forest resources
• Restitution/ privatisation
• Reduce public activities - increase private activities
• Development of European forestry legislation (if possible)
• Decentralisation of the forestry sector (participation on equal level)
• Illegal logging and trade
• Lack of economical evaluation of nature protection measures (estimation/establishment of new protected areas)
• Increasing protected areas in forest

ECONOMIC (4)

• Improving economic viability of the forest sector (8)
• Decreasing profitability of the forest sector
• Economic efficiency of forest enterprises

Communication (2)

• Improving image and profile of the forest sector (1)
• Low importance of forestry (1)
• Collaborative partnership in solutions of emerging issues; foresters vs green NGOs and criticism without responsibility or responsible joint solution of ... (1)
  • Foster contacts Europe/World; professionals/students
  • Poor public relations of forest sector
  • Bad communication ; train foresters to communicate better
  • Improvement of forestry sector image (forestry is not a four letter word)
  • To inform on what is forestry
  • Forests vs timber/wood (awareness)
  • Balance between interests of timber industry and environmentalists (communication with society)
  • Improvement of communication between agencies responsible for forests, nature protection, state civil service, private sector and media (PR)
  • Cross-sectoral communication
  • Propaganda and training local people near forests concerning ecological functions of forests
  • Enhance communication with the public

Finance and Investment (2)

• Development of the European forest fund with the aim of faster development of forestry in countries in transition (2)
• Lack of financial resources for the forest sector (1)
  • Insufficient financing of multifunctionality of forests
  • Compensations for forest conservation and protection
  • State is not able to compensate the reduction of income because of biodiversity conservation
  • Finding of appropriate ways of financing forestry sector
  • Investments into the forest sector
  • Poor capacity to invest in forestry and lack of financing schemes to insure sustainable forestry
  • Increasing investments in the forest sector and forest industry

PROMOTION OF WOOD AND NON WOOD PRODUCTS & SERVICES (1)

• Wood promotion (putting together all the chain from forest owner up to final consumer of wood products (1)
  • Promotion of wood based products
  • Stimulation of the development of internal market of timber and (foster) wood processing industries

INSTITUTION & CAPACITY (1)

• Development of the forest institutions (on national level) and their capacities
• Building capacity of forest owners
• Insufficient knowledge in forestry of new forest owners
• Statistics robust & reliable
• Lack administrative knowledge/skills (EU + international)
• Lack of capacities to implement SFM
• Establishing of fully functioning state forest services

FOREST & FORESTRY

• Promotion of SFM (2)
• Balance between forest use and nature protection (2)
• Balancing biological and economic part of forest management (1)
• Increasing need for forest protection
• Simultaneously increasing demand for wood and environmental services/conservation
• Increase productivity wood production
• Worsening of quality of premature forest due to unsustainable forest management
• Increase the efficiency of forest sector
• Adaptation to climate changes
• Improving the present condition (quality)of the resources

SOCIAL FUNCTIONS (SUB-CATEGORY UNDER FOREST&FORESTRY)

• Increase of recreation
• Insuring social benefits from forests
• Green tourism (in Carpathian region) - eco-tourism

BIODIVERSITY (SUB-CATEGORY UNDER FOREST&FORESTRY) (1)

• Biodiversity (habitats) protection (1)
• Protection of forest ecosystems
• Biodiversity conservation in private forest

INNOVATION IN WOOD INDUSTRY SECTOR

• Increase competitiveness wood processing and trade/export (1)
• Weak internal market of forest product and consumption of small and medium quality and size timber
• Foster new technology wood industry
• Utilisation of the diameter low grade material value-added manufacturing
• Need for increasing of wood processing industry capability
• Deep crisis of wood processing, pulp wood, and paper industries; lack of innovation

EDUCATION TRAINING & RESEARCH

• Insufficient development of human resources both in (management and society) in term of SFM (1)
• Unification of educational and training system at EU level
• Open up minds in forestry community
• More economic + management expertise (training/teaching)
• New + more research socio-economic _>natural sciences
• Education & training non industrial private forest
• Education & research
• Improvement of education
• More effective research capacity

Public Awareness

• Promotion of wood in people's mind as a ecological advantaged product (1)
• Opening up forestry sector to the public
• Promoting interests of forest sector by lobbying the relevant sector/organizations
• Forest sector has bad image in society/public awareness
• Effective lobbying at national and international levels (competition with environmental NGOs)

PRIVATE FORESTRY

• Low level of management skills of private forest owners
• Finding the proper tools to activate consolidation of private forest properties
• Lack of cooperation among forest owners
• Private forest owners are only partly organised
• Small and inefficient size of forest units
• Forest management in private forest
• Establishing of fully functioning private forest sector
• Not readiness to pay for environmental services privately
• Small size of private forest holding and split distribution
• High tax load to forest owners
• Cooperation - small forest owners

SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE PRIVATE FORESTRY (SUB-PRIVATE FORESTRY)

• Support of private forestry sector via creation of forest owners associations to be functional
• If Natura 2000 be realised solution of compensation of restrictions of forest owners
• The sustainable management of small individual properties which were created by the forest restitution process
• Achieve sustainable private forest management improving the extension and the training opportunities for private forest owners
• Supporting of private forest owners in using environmental approach of the forest

 

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