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Obeying nature: forest
management in Slovenia
Aleksander Golob, Senior Advisor, Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food
P
eople have long been aware of their dependence on nature.
Civilizations that exceeded the carrying capacity of their
ecosystems usually declined, to be substituted by those
better adapted to their natural environment. Observing nature’s
response to man’s action has always been a key to success-
ful development. Francis Bacon’s statement “Nature, to be
commanded, must be obeyed” is today as relevant as ever, in the
face of environmental changes which will become more severe if
the human footprint is not considerably reduced.
In Slovenia, landowners and foresters have always had a good reason
to obey nature before commanding it. Although a small country,
Slovenia is characterized by a variety of landscapes, including
Mediterranean, Alpine, mountainous, hilly and, to a
minor extent, also lowland landscapes, comprised both
of calcareous and non-calcareous bedrock. They are
accompanied by natural threats, such as strong winds,
heavy rains, flooding, avalanches, snow and ice-breaks,
as well as droughts, the frequency and seriousness of
which have intensified in recent decades. Adapting land
management practices to such variable conditions has
usually not only been a key to success, but also, in many
cases, to bare survival.
In Slovenia, forests cover close to 60 per cent of land
surface. For Europe, this is a relatively high share, a
consequence of a cognitive land management approach
Protection function of forests in the Alps was recognized by authorities several centuries ago