Urgent Analysis and Law on Forests of FBiH Needed

A working meeting of experts in forestry and institutions was held yesterday at the Faculty of Forestry in Sarajevo to discuss the current situation in FBiH forestry, said Mirza Dautbašić, Dean of the Faculty of Forestry in Sarajevo.

Among other things, discussions covered problems in forestry after the floods, the health status of forests and impending diseases (bark beetle calamities, gypsy moth, pine processionary moth...), forest management in sanitary protection zones (water protection zones), as well as the Law on Forests.

After discussions by 36 participants, constructive, unanimous conclusions were reached:

• Propose a project to the institutions of the Federation: "Analysis of the state of forests and forest land in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the aspect of the impact of flood consequences (May 2014), with a proposal for solutions for remediation and approach to remediation." It is necessary to urgently collect data after the floods, submit it to the Federal Administration for Forestry, and proceed with the remediation of the incurred damages. A Crisis Headquarters for protection against harmful insects has also been formed;
• The Federal Administration for Forestry, together with the Faculty of Forestry, should plan and hold seminars on protecting forests from harmful forest insects (bark beetle, gypsy moth, pine processionary moth), and agree on the dates and venue;
• The Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry should harmonize legal regulations to regulate unimpeded forest management in water protection zones;
• Send an Urgency to the Government of the Federation for the urgent adoption of the Law on Forests of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Otherwise, besides the host, the Dean of the Faculty of Forestry, the meeting was attended by representatives of JP "BH Forests", the chief federal forestry inspector, Forest Management Company "Forests of Central Bosnia", representatives of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Forestry Department, and other cantonal forestry administrations, reports Patria.