At the sitting held on 2 October 2017, the members of the Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management Committee deliberated on improving the state-of-play and the sustainable use of forest eco-systems in Serbia – problems (forest decline, forest fires, illegal logging, forestation, etc.), and on improving hunting in Serbia.
Sasa Stamatovic, Head of the Forestry Directorate, said that forests are an eco-system of existential importance and the chief task is how to maximize their capacity to perform their many functions. Stamatovic said that 30% of Serbia is under forests, while the optimum would be 41%. Speaking of the forest eco-systems, he said that Serbia abounds in coppice and decadent forests, and the goal is to produce more technical wood. He said that the application of the forest and forestry improvement concept and cooperation with the German federal ministry whose implementation of the close to nature forestry project has yielded positive results, is very important. He said that subsidizing forest roads has shown to be the most useful measure utilized in the previous period.
Predrag Aleksic, acting general manager of PE Srbijasume, said that forest decline and forest fires are both ecological and economical disasters, also adding that illegal logging is being controlled by PE Srbijasume in cooperation with other institutions and 917 reports were filed in the last year. Aleksic said that climate change and lacking workforce in the mountainous regions are the chief problems.
Aleksandar Lucic, deputy director of the Forestry Institute, said that the Institute would fully contribute to the development of forestry on the territory of Serbia.
The Committee concluded that the implementation of the amendments and modifications to the Law on Forests had yielded results and the Committee would double its efforts to resolve the noted flaws. It was also suggested to start building new forest roads in the coming period applying new technologies which would mean higher road-load and fewer fire hazards.
Milutin Djordjevic, executive director of PE Srbijasume Hunting, Fishing and Tourism Sector, and Dragan Sormaz, President of the Hunting Association of Serbia, highlighted the importance of the new law on game and hunting currently in the works which would show more appreciation for hunting organizations and traditional hunting.
The sitting was chaired by Committee Chairman Marijan Risticevic and attended by the following Committee members and deputy members: Zarko Bogatinovic, Dr Ljubinko Rakonjac, Nada Lazic, Prof. Dr Miladin Sevarlic, Vladimir Djuric, Radovan Jancic, Marko Gavrilovic, Zvonimir Djokic, Dalibor Radicevic, Tijana Davidovac, Veroljub Matic, Arpad Fremond and Milija Miletic.
