Pan-European Criteria for Sustainable Forest Management - Attitudes of Forestry Professionals in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

Climate change is recognized as a global threat that negatively impacts biodiversity and forest resources. The use of existing indicators for sustainable forest management (SFM) related to biodiversity and climate change, as well as the development of new indicators, will help assess how forest management practices impact biodiversity enhancement and climate change mitigation. A Pan-European set of criteria and indicators has been developed as a policy instrument for monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on the progress in implementing SFM. In Bosnia and Herzegovina and Western Balkans in general, the Pan-European set of criteria and indicators is an insufficiently researched topic and there is a lack of scientific research conducted regarding their development and implementation. Through the analysis of the current situation in forestry of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), regarding the compliance and importance of the Pan-European criteria for SFM, this paper aims to explain how the international process of development and application of the Pan-European criteria for SFM can contribute to the improvement of the situation in forestry and the creation of a consistent forest policy in FBiH. The survey among forestry professionals (n=360), from the public forest administration and public forest companies in FBiH, included the sets of questions related to socio-demographic characteristics, assessment of compliance and importance of six criteria of SFM. Research results revealed that forestry professionals are mainly males, on average 41 years old, with 13 years of working experience. The majority of forestry professionals in FBiH are not familiar with Pan-European criteria for SFM, and have a low level of their understanding. On average, forestry professionals indicated that the Pan-European criteria for SFM were of high importance, while compliance with current forest management activities were rated lower on average. The large differences between responses regarding the average rating of compliance and importance of the Pan-European criteria for SFM indicate their low level of implementation in FBiH forest management activities. Accordingly, the results indicate that there is a need to organize educational lifelong learning programs in FBiH forestry sector, involving forestry professionals and other interested parties, to generate knowledge related to the Pan-European criteria for SFM and the concept of SFM in general.