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• It fully recognizes and accepts the concept of
sustainable forest management as defined by the
Forest Europe process at a pan-European level
• The adoption of the protocol and its follow-up have
some linkages with the current activities that are
taking place at the European Union (such as the
EU Forestry Strategy revision and the European
Commission green paper on forest protection and
information) and pan-European (possible legally
binding agreement) levels
• The protocol’s adoption is a significant subregional
contribution to the activities of International Year of
Forests, 2011.
Environmental education as a vital part of
national policy
Supporting environmental education and raising
public awareness in order to achieve a positive change
in the perception of forestry by the general public
is a priority action of the Slovak National Forest
Programme. As a part of the NFP implementation,
professional foresters in Slovakia used the unique
opportunity given by Forests 2011 to present a pleth-
ora of contributions that forests and forestry provide
to society. Various national forestry entities joined
together and, based on a common strategy, organized
specifically targeted events.
A ‘National Forest Days’ event was held through-
out the whole country for the fifth successive year
in April 2011. A large number of events took place,
programme. As a policy concept, this consists of three main pillars:
economic, environmental and social.
Carpathian Convention – subregional cooperation on forests
Slovakia is a party to the Framework Convention on Protection
and Sustainable Development of the Carpathians (Carpathian
Convention), a subregional convention pursuing a comprehensive
policy and cooperating in the protection and sustainable develop-
ment of the Carpathians. The convention currently includes seven
countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia,
Slovakia and Ukraine. The third meeting of the Conference of the
Parties (COP 3) to the Carpathian Convention was held from 25-27
May 2011 in Bratislava in the Slovak Republic. The COP adopted
the Protocol on Sustainable Forest Management, which was subse-
quently signed by six of the seven parties.
The main objective of the protocol is to promote the sustainable
management and protection of Carpathian forests. Its adoption creates
conditions for effectual follow-up that can result in improving coop-
eration between countries of the Carpathian region in such areas as
ensuring productive and non-productive forest functions, improving
the health and vitality of forests, identifying and protecting natural
forests, promoting the restoration of close-to-nature forests and encour-
aging research and exchange of information on Carpathian forests.
There are several points relating to the Protocol on Sustainable
Forest Management that should be highlighted in the context of
current policy developments and discussions related to forests and
the forestry sector at all levels:
• The protocol is the first intergovernmental legally binding
instrument on sustainable forest management in Europe (in
spite of the fact that it only applies at a subregional level)
Natural forests and close-to-nature forestry are at the forefront of subjects covered by subregional cooperation in the Carpathians
Image: B. Greguška