Forestry in Accession Countries

The objectives of the project were to:

• Present the current situation of forestry sector in each of the accession countries and make an appraisal of its importance using appropriate economic, social and environmental indicators, indicating developments since the 1996-98 study.
• Present an assessment of the current state of forests in accession countries, putting emphasis on environmental aspects of forestry and giving qualitative information on such aspects as species, ecosystems, functions, management and silviculture.
• Present an analysis of the evolution of the policy system and institutional framework as related to forestry and environment (particularly conservation and protection issues) during the transition years, and assess the impact of these changes to the forestry sector, with some emphasis on certification, biodiversity and hunting, providing also information for any monitoring activities in place. The policy system refers to the process of policy development and the contents of forest and related policies.
• Provide a thorough presentation of the present legal, administrative and policy sub-system for forest resources utilisation, protection and reproduction in accession countries and an analysis of its impact in the transposition of the environmental acquis of the Community.
• Suggest improvements in the policy instruments that have been developed in the accession countries until today as well as the instruments that have been available to these countries through EU support (Phare, SAPARD, ISPA), in order to balance the economic, environmental and social interests that lie in the forests and forestry sector. Policy instruments will cover those provided through regulation, non-binding guidelines (e.g. for silviculture and biodiversity), incentives (fiscal and other), as well as "soft- policy instruments such as certification.