The nations of Eastern Europe have a long and well-recognized history and traditions of forestry practices, particularly in the development of silvicultural and management techniques for large royal or government forest estates. These forest estates, in many countries, were often significantly increased shortly after World War II as the result of nationalization.
Recently, however, many countries of Eastern Europe are undergoing or have undergone dramatic shifts in forest ownership patterns. Through processes of compensation, restitution and privatization, thousands of hectares of state forest land have been placed in the hands of private individuals. There has been a tremendous increase in the number of private forest owners, many with small and sometimes dispersed holdings and little background in forest management. Thus, one of the most affected sub-sectors may well be forestry extension, which changes fundamentally as a function of forest ownership. Extension for private owners, who by definition have a say in how their land is managed, differs from 'extension' for state lands where the government personnel often has direct authority to manage the forest estate. Forest management techniques developed for large government forest estates must therefore be revised, adapted, updated and communicated to private owners and new approaches must be developed for small private owners. Appropriate organizations and associations of forest owners and farmers should be promoted to assure coordinated management and economies of scale. The commitment and participation of private owners in all phases of forest development and conservation must be assisted and developed. Small forest owners, often under economic pressure, are those most needing advice and assistance to manage their forests sustainably.
In addition, similar policy and tenure changes in the agriculture sector also imply a new role for forestry extension, especially in the areas of agroforestry and the conversion of marginal, degraded or abandoned agricultural lands into forests. These changes combined with changes in the political arena will even affect the remaining government forest estate where new levels of public participation and involvement may be required.
Many of the countries in Eastern Europe are facing the same challenges in forestry extension. This publication attempts to address this situation by documenting and analysing recent changes in forest ownership patterns, discussing the needs of and identifying possible approaches for, forestry extension in the region. It is based on a survey of nine countries, four country profiles written by national experts, country visits by an expert from the region and meetings and interactions with resource persons from the area. While a variety of forms of forest ownership exist, such as communal management, this document deals mainly with private forestry sensu stricto.
Many people have contributed to this work - both from inside FAO and from the countries concerned. Those who wrote country profiles are indicated under the respective sections. Tamas Marghescu visited and wrote country profiles for several countries. He also collaborated with Jon Anderson, Forestry Extension Officer, FAO, on the regional overview. Mr. Anderson initiated the work and edited much of the volume. Additional editing and formatting was done by Kathryn Carlisle. Many other resource persons, too numerous to mention individually - particularly those from the countries themselves who commented frankly on an initial draft - deserve recognition here. Within FAO special mention needs to be given to Jean Clement, Marc de Montalembert and Lennart Ljungman for suggestions and contributions.
This book, while dealing with a complex and on-going process, should be useful to a broad range of foresters, extensionists, planners, and policy and decision makers, and to those involved in international cooperation concerned with this region. It is hoped that it will contribute concretely to sustainable forest management in the region.
M. Hosny El-Lakany
Director
Forest Resources Division
Forestry Department
Countries covered in the study
