Bioenergy offers an important opportunity for South-East Europe countries to harness the potential of their indigenous sources of renewable energy, especially wood. There is a long tradition of using wood for heating, particularly in rural areas, but often the technology used is inefficient and out-of-date. As the market economy has developed, there has been a shift towards using fossil fuel to meet the countries' growing energy needs. In some countries, shortfalls in energy supplies in urban areas have increased the pressure on forests, leading to unsustainable logging. The use of fossil fuels (gas/oil) has increased. Even in rural areas natural gas has begun to replace wood, ignoring the serious environmental disadvantages of fossil fuel use.
Highly efficient modern renewable energy technologies open up exciting new potential for sustainable use of the region's own natural resources and integrated rural development. The need for sustainable development in the region, including the use of the domestic natural resources, suggests an urgent requirement to re-evaluate the environmental benefits of renewable sources of energy. Adequate policies for the promotion of wood energy need to reflect potentially adverse environmental, social and economic impacts.

In light of this, the Ministry or Regional Development, Forestry and Water Management of Croatia together with the UNECE/FAO Timber Section and FAO Sub-regional Office for Central and Eastern Europe are organizing a workshop that will explore market potentials and policy options for the promotion of wood energy in South-East Europe. The workshop will be held in Croatian and English, with simultaneous interpretation.

Meeting documents

Agenda

Conclusions and Recommendations

Project proposal

Modern and sustainable heat and power from woody biomass in South-Eastern Europe

Country reports

Albania

Crotia

TFYR Macedonia

Serbia

Presentations

Wood energy: definition, objectives and challenges in South East Europe
Branko Glavonjic, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Forestry, Serbia

Country presentation: Croatia
Zlatko Benkovic, Julije Domac

Country presentation: TFYR Macedonia
Milorad Andrijeski, Jana Jovanovska

Country presentation: Serbia
Dusan Jovic

Wood energy data, markets, potentials and policy options
Florian Steierer, UNECE

Policy Options for Wood Energy in South-East Europe
Hubert Nimród Inhaizer, Junior Forestry Officer, FAO SEU

WISDOM Project in Serbia - first experiences and results
Dusan Jovic, Directorate of Forests, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Serbia
Branko Glavonjic, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Forestry, Serbia

Present state and perspectives of wood biomass energy utilization in Slovakia
Milan Oravec, Slovakia

SNV - presentation
Todorov Voislav, Forestry Advisor, SNV Macedonia

EBRD Credit Line - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Sources
Ms Lena Bratic (WeBSECLF, Mr Azrudin Husika (EnCon)

Mobilizacija potencijala - UMSKE biomase iz privatnih - UMA RH (Mobilization potential of forest biomass from private forests of the Republic of Croatia) (in Croatian language!)
Tomislav Starcic, Croatia