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Forest Owners Associations in the Central and Eastern European Region

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Abstract

The restitution and privatization in Central and Eastern European countries in the early 1990s predisposed a heterogeneous ownership structure, a large number of forest owners and a variety of types of property ownership modes. Furthermore, development of governance in these countries posited a new framework for interest representation in the forestry sector, mainly through organised forms of private forest owners, i.e. formation of forest owners’ associations (FOAs). In this region, FOAs were one of the opportunities for interest representation in the land restitution processes. Later on these associations gained more competency and importance not only in influencing forest policy-making, but also in offering services to their members. The aim of the paper is to improve the understanding of the origins, evolution and current situation of FOAs in Central and Eastern Europe by describing the factors that influenced the FOAs’ creation and development. On the basis of their similar history seven Central Eastern European countries were selected for FOAs analysis: Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia. The main findings of the study include that FOAs in Eastern and Central Europe, though being the result of the same socio-political changes, differ between countries in terms of their organisational forms. However, they face similar challenges, including the limited motivation of owners to join associations. Also, they undertake similar activities for their successful development, including the provision of information services for their members. Despite not having any legal competence for the direct management of their member’s forests, these FAOs do have strong representative and demonstrative effects in their countries.

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Notes

  1. Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) is an OECD term for the group of countries comprising Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.(http://stats.oecd.org/glossary/detail.asp?ID=303).

  2. NATURA 2000 is an ecological network of protected areas in the territory of European Union designed by each EU Member State according to the Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC) and the Birds Directive (Council Directive 2009/147/EC).

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Acknowledgments

This research was made possible through a collaboration of researchers within the network of the Central-East European Regional Office of the European Forest Institute (EFICEEC) and within the two research projects “Innovation and Sustainability of forestry in Central-Eastern Europe: Challenges and Perspectives” (funded by the Austrian Ministry of Science and Research) and “Review of forest owners’ organizations in selected Eastern European countries”(funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN). Further support was given by the Austrian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management and by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-0057-11, Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports—Grant No. COST CZ LD 14083 and by the home institutions of the researchers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forest Research Institute Zvolen, National Forest Centre, T.G. Masaryka 22, 96092, Zvolen, Slovakia

    Zuzana Sarvašová

  2. Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycká 129, 16521, Praha 6-Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Zuzana Sarvašová, Vilém Jarský & Luděk Šišák

  3. European Forest Institute Central-East and South-East European Regional Office (EFICEEC-EFISEE), University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (BOKU), Feistmantelstrasse 4, 1180, Vienna, Austria

    Ivana Zivojinovic, Gerhard Weiss & Bernhard Wolfslehner

  4. Department of Economics and Management of Forestry, Faculty of Forestry, Technical University of Zvolen, T.G. Masaryka 24, 96001, Zvolen, Slovakia

    Zuzana Dobšinská & Jaroslav Šálka

  5. Faculty of Forestry, University of Suceava, Universitatii, nr. 13, 720229, Suceava, Romania

    Marian Drăgoi

  6. Faculty of Forestry, Institute of Forest Resource Management, University of West Hungary, Bajcsy str. 4, Sopron, 9400, Hungary

    János Gál

  7. Department of Forest Resources, Economics and Policy, Institute of Forestry, Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry, Liepu-1, Girionys, LT-53101, Kaunas District, Lithuania

    Diana Mizaraite

  8. Department of Forest Management, Institute of Forestry and Rural Engineering, Estonian University of Life Science, Kreutzwaldi 5, 51014, Tartu, Estonia

    Priit Põllumäe

  9. National Agricultural Research and Innovation Centre, Forest Research Institute, 17 Pap ret, Sopron, 9400, Hungary

    Endré Schiberna

  10. Latvian State Forest Research Institute „Silava”, Rigas-111, Salaspils, LV 2169, Latvia

    Zinta Zalite & Toms Zalitis

Authors
  1. Zuzana Sarvašová
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  2. Ivana Zivojinovic
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  3. Gerhard Weiss
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  4. Zuzana Dobšinská
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  5. Marian Drăgoi
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  6. János Gál
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  7. Vilém Jarský
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  8. Diana Mizaraite
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  9. Priit Põllumäe
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  10. Jaroslav Šálka
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  11. Endré Schiberna
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  12. Luděk Šišák
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  13. Bernhard Wolfslehner
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  14. Zinta Zalite
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  15. Toms Zalitis
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Correspondence to Zuzana Sarvašová.

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Sarvašová, Z., Zivojinovic, I., Weiss, G. et al. Forest Owners Associations in the Central and Eastern European Region. Small-scale Forestry 14, 217–232 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-014-9283-5

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