About 200 million hectares of forests have been lost across the tropics since the beginning of the century, and even greater areas have been degraded [1]. That makes the deforestation the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and the primary driver of terrestrial biodiversity loss [1]. Over the last decades’ many efforts were taken to address deforestation and illegal logging, by the private sector and civil society organizations (e.g. The Sustainable Forest Products Global Alliance, WWF), and political commitments were also made (e.g. COP26, the European Union (EU) Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests). In 2013 the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) got into force in the EU to address illegal logging on the demand side of timber and timber products. The EUTR obliges importers to implement a due diligence system (DDS) to minimize the risk of importing illegally sourced timber and timber products to the EU [2]. In this way, the EUTR creates a strong market advantage for low-risk countries which are mostly in the northern hemisphere. On the other hand, exporters from developing, high-risk countries might be disadvantaged as EUTR implementation creates administrative burdens and extra costs [3]. Despite the EU efforts to stop the flows of illegally sourced timber and timber products the implementation of EUTR is uneven among the EU Member States and in many cases unsatisfactory [4]. Among high-risk countries are also some Western Balkan countries, which are considered to comprise the corridor of illegal timber and timber products from the East to the West [5]. In general, the Western Balkan countries have high forestry potential that could contribute to their social, environmental, and economic development. As EU Member States, two Western Balkan countries (Croatia and Slovenia) aligned their policies and regulatory frameworks with those of the EU and had to implement EUTR requirements. Other Western Balkan countries (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro) are still in the pre-accession process to the EU. It is not known how they adapted to EU acquis communautaire, and what measures they undertook to comply with EUTR requirements. Although some authors [3, 4,5] focus on the legality aspects of timber in the Western Balkan countries, there is limited research on key stakeholders’ perceptions of EUTR implementation as well as forest policy adaptation to the EUTR requirements. This study addresses the identified research gaps by investigating key stakeholders’ attitudes towards the legality of timber and timber products and EUTR implementation in selected Western Balkan countries (i.e., Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia).

Key stakeholder’s attitudes on the implementation of the EU Timber Regulation in selected Balkan countries: Comparative case study of Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia

Maja Radosavljevic
;
Mauro Masiero;Todora Rogelja;Davide Pettenella
2022

Abstract

About 200 million hectares of forests have been lost across the tropics since the beginning of the century, and even greater areas have been degraded [1]. That makes the deforestation the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions and the primary driver of terrestrial biodiversity loss [1]. Over the last decades’ many efforts were taken to address deforestation and illegal logging, by the private sector and civil society organizations (e.g. The Sustainable Forest Products Global Alliance, WWF), and political commitments were also made (e.g. COP26, the European Union (EU) Communication on Stepping up EU Action to Protect and Restore the World’s Forests). In 2013 the EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) got into force in the EU to address illegal logging on the demand side of timber and timber products. The EUTR obliges importers to implement a due diligence system (DDS) to minimize the risk of importing illegally sourced timber and timber products to the EU [2]. In this way, the EUTR creates a strong market advantage for low-risk countries which are mostly in the northern hemisphere. On the other hand, exporters from developing, high-risk countries might be disadvantaged as EUTR implementation creates administrative burdens and extra costs [3]. Despite the EU efforts to stop the flows of illegally sourced timber and timber products the implementation of EUTR is uneven among the EU Member States and in many cases unsatisfactory [4]. Among high-risk countries are also some Western Balkan countries, which are considered to comprise the corridor of illegal timber and timber products from the East to the West [5]. In general, the Western Balkan countries have high forestry potential that could contribute to their social, environmental, and economic development. As EU Member States, two Western Balkan countries (Croatia and Slovenia) aligned their policies and regulatory frameworks with those of the EU and had to implement EUTR requirements. Other Western Balkan countries (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Montenegro) are still in the pre-accession process to the EU. It is not known how they adapted to EU acquis communautaire, and what measures they undertook to comply with EUTR requirements. Although some authors [3, 4,5] focus on the legality aspects of timber in the Western Balkan countries, there is limited research on key stakeholders’ perceptions of EUTR implementation as well as forest policy adaptation to the EUTR requirements. This study addresses the identified research gaps by investigating key stakeholders’ attitudes towards the legality of timber and timber products and EUTR implementation in selected Western Balkan countries (i.e., Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia).
2022
IUFRO Div. 4.05 conference in Hamburg
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11577/3454739
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