No abstract

Background and purpose: Croatia is one of the countries with a long practice of payments for environmental forests' services (PES). Following the implementation of green tax in Croatia and present European trends, the aim of this research is to investigate state of economic mechanisms and possible need for change or adaptation to the new trends. Material and methods: Primary data were collected by interviewing forestry professionals in charge of collection and distributions of green tax to gain an insight of their perception on importance of green tax, their comments on recent decrease in prescribed rate and what are the issues related to tax collection. Also very short telephone questionnaires were conducted with taxpayers to get an impression on how taxpayers perceive their obligation, their awareness of the purpose of this payment, their participation in discussion related to green tax and do they receive annual reports from Croatian Forest Ltd. company related to money collected and spent. Secondary data consisted of review of relevant literature, legislation overview and analysis of reports on collection and distribution of green tax provided by Croatian Forests Ltd. company. Results and conclusion: Collected amount of green tax grew constantly given the period 1993-2009. Important factor was increased monitoring of tax collection. Main problems with green tax were constant change of governmental decisions and lack of transparency of tax distribution. Green tax was perceived as burden by taxpayers and their knowledge of its purpose was general at best. Transparency of tax distribution and better public relations by Croatian Forests Ltd. company could improve public acceptance of green tax.

Background and purpose: Even-aged forests prevail in Croatia's forestry. Rotation period is based mostly on natural parameters. In practice, rotation period is given by Croatian Rulebook of forest management. Cutting age is determined based on inventory data and many other stand characteristics. Rotation period is a planned time and it always has to be unique for particular tree species, and cutting age is the age of a stand at the moment of the final cut. The aim of the paper is to compare rotation period based on economic parameters and rotation period determined by using forest inventory data. Material and methods: Owing to absence of long term stand calculation data, research object was taken from Forest Management Handbook (1995). Mean annual increment (MAI) and current annual increment (CAI) provided fundamental data for calculations. The research was conducted at one hectare Common Beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) stand. Assortment structure and value of timber was estimated by the present cutting value method calculated by using Croatian forests Ltd. Price list for the year 2008. Labor costs in forest exploitation were also taken into account. Results and conclusion: In order to achieve cost-effective management of common beech stands, it is necessary to adjust current optimal rotation period. Optimal rotation period should be based on management goals as the main factors. So far the most common criterion adopted in Croatian forestry has been the rotation of maximum sustained yield or maximum Mean annual increment. The presented results indicate that common forest management practice should be changed in order to achieve cost-effective management of beech stands in the future.

In this article, several findings on socio-economic conditions derived from national reports and a web-based questionnaire are discussed and related to the changing role of forestry and the future forest policy development. A number of Central and South-eastern European countries taking part in a SEE-ERA-NET project ReForMan project (www.reforman.de) participated in data acquisition: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Serbia and Slovenia. The aim of the research was to illustrate the present structure of forestry sector, as well as investigate newly emerging topics in forestry of Central and South-eastern Europe. The results indicated certain patterns in attitudes and perceptions among stakeholders that can be related to socio-economic conditions defined for each country. Clear differences between member and non-member countries exist only in level of implementation of EU legislation. Results showed consensus on main threats to the forests among all countries, but also some country specifics in perceptions of factors influencing forestry, their importance and professional competencies. These results could be additionally explained by influence of historical conditions which shaped development of forest sector in SEE region especially in its organizational dimension as well as in perceived role of forestry expressed through recognition of main forest functions. The influence of European forest policy processes in the region is evident through adaptation of EU legislation and perceived implications of international processes on national levels. Based on this observation, two possible options for future development of the forestry sector can be foreseen: (i) focusing on the productive function of forests and fostering its' sustainable use; or (ii) putting an emphasis on environmental and social issues. In both cases supporting public participation in decision-making processes is recommendable. Another conclusion based on perceived medium to low professional competencies to cope with new topics, that there is lack of confidence and need for professional support in decisionmaking processes.