PEFC heads to Croatia for the 2nd Regional Conference of Private Forest Owners of Southeast Europe

25 August 2014 News

With the expansion of forest certification to Southeast Europe one of PEFC’s key focuses, Remi Sournia, PEFC Projects & Development Officer, will be taking part in the upcoming 2nd Regional Conference of Private Forest Owners of Southeast Europe in Zagreb, Croatia.

“Forest certification holds a lot of potential for the forest owners in Croatia, as well as throughout the southeast region of Europe,” said Mr. Sournia. “PEFC is already working with private forest owners in several countries in this region to assist in the development of their national sustainable forest certification system, and we hope that this conference will contribute to similar activities in Croatia.”

The 2nd Regional Conference of Private Forest Owners of Southeast Europe, which is taking place on 27th August in Zagreb, is expected to gather 150 participants from around the region, including private forest owners, state-owned forest corporations, companies and government representatives.

The Conference aims to emphasize and raise the issues of the exploitation of private forests in Croatia and in the countries of the region, as well as generate recommendations for the new forest legislation and subordinate regulations. Promoting the Croatian private forest owners more active involvement in the management of the country’s forests is also a key objective.

Croatia is the eighth country in Southeast Europe to express interest in working with PEFC to develop a national forest certification system, with projects already under way in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Romania.