Serbia Should Achieve 41% Forestation by 2035 – What Are the Obstacles?

Forests cover 2,252,400 hectares in Serbia, that is, 30.7% of its total area (7.1% in Vojvodina, 37.5% in central Serbia, 42.1% in Kosovo and Metohija). We thereby belong among the states with medium forestation.

– The remaining forest land, which, under the international definition, includes shrubbery and bushes, covers 4.9% of the territory, which altogether amounts to 34.0%, or 36.3% relative to the area of the productive land of Serbia. Compared to the reference year of 1979, forestation has increased 5.2%, which, among other things, has had a positive impact on both the state and the quality of the living environment as a whole. Forestation relative to the global aspect is close to the world forestation, which amounts to 30%, and is slightly lower than the European one, which is around 46% on average – the Forest Administration says for eKapija.

According to the preliminary data collected in 2021 for the purposes of the National Inventory of Forests of the Republic of Serbia, which are not yet official, the expected forestation is around 39%, the company Srbijasume says and adds:

– According to the draft Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia 2021-2035, the plan is for the estimated optimal forestation (around 41%) to be reached by 2035. Forest experts will try to realize the plans and tasks that are adopted in the upcoming period.

State owns 43% of land under forests

Forest land owned by the state is mostly forested. The estimate is that around 80,000 hectares of bare land remain, but that also includes areas which are naturally infertile soil, which is difficult to forest (rocky land, swamps etc.), and part of the land has to remain grazing ground for wild animals.

A total of 968,992 ha (43%) of land under forests is owned by the state, of which 893,204 ha, or 40% of the total forestation, has been entrusted to the PE Srbijasume.

This company plans its activities through planning documents which are adopted for a period of 10 years, titled “The Basics of Forest Management”. Said planning documents, based on the state of the habitat and the stand of trees, specifies the location and the area of undeveloped forest land, which, as such, is a candidate for artificial forestation.

– Most of the land suitable for forestation is owned by natural persons, cooperatives, churches and religious communities – they say.

Forestation plans are made based on priority needs, the Forest Administration adds:

– In certain areas, the primary thing is to raise the degree of forestation (for example, the area of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina), whereas in others, it is necessary to upgrade or ameliorate the condition of the existing forests.

The public enterprises that manage forest have in their plans areas determined to be suitable for forestation, as well as areas which require interventions for the purpose of improving the condition. For private forests, of which there are around 50%, the owners set the areas themselves and set the priorities for forestation.

– In line with the forestation plans, a good planning of the production of forest planting material is required. The planting material for forestation in all the possible habitats does not exist and, for that reason, the production of planting material at plant nurseries (the type and the quality of planting material) needs to be adapted to the needs for the growing of the material, the circumstances at the habitat and the aims of forestation – they emphasize.

Area of 4,510 ha under forests planned in the next 10 years

According to the determined state as of December 31, 2021, the area for forestation in the next 10 years in the territory managed by the PE Srbijasume amounts to 4,510 ha.

– Dynamically, on average, it’s 451 ha a year, but this area can vary on an annual level, whereby it is important for the overall plan for the ten-year period to be realized in full – they say for our portal.

In addition to raising new forests on suitable land in the remaining areas, the priority is to ameliorate the forest areas damaged by natural disasters, which has been very prominent in the past ten years, due to strong ice, wind, fire damage and so on, says the Forest Administration.

– Also, the amelioration of bad forests is one of the priorities, that, is the conversion and reconstruction of coppice forests and anthropogenic shrubbery into forests of a higher growing form. Altogether, the planned scope of forestation and amelioration on an annual level in the next period amounts to 1,000 to 2,000 hectares. Autochthonous varieties of forest trees of a suitable origin will be used for planting as a priority. In addition to that, within the regular forest management activities, a natural renewal of forests is the priority – they say.

According to the PE Vojvodinasume, forests in the country’s north should take up an area of 308,045 ha, so in that case the forestation of Vojvodina would increase from the current 7.1% to 14.32%.

– Considering the fact that twice as many areas need to be forested as we have now and that the pre-condition is to meet all the requirements, this is clearly a job that will take decades – the executive director for forestry, ecology and development at the PE Vojvodinasume, Dr Marko Marinkovic, a forestry engineer, says for eKapija.

Big challenges in forestation

Although the awareness of the populace of the importance of forests has grown in the past two to three years, especially in the light of fighting climate change, there remains the problem of land for forestation, points out the Forest Administration.

– Forestry does not encompass green areas in cities, tree lanes and so on, and is related to areas which, following the forestation process, are managed as a forest. In that sense there’s very little adequate forest land and the only space for the expansion of forests is infertile agricultural land (primarily grazing land) and arable agricultural land of a lower class, for which there is no interest in terms of working it for the purpose of agricultural production.

The Forest Administration and the PE Srbijasume agree that one of the problems is also that the majority of the land suitable for forestation is in the possession of said forest owners, as well as the fragmentation and lack of up-to-dateness of private properties.

Among other problems are the unfavorable age structure of annual forests, the increasingly pronounced intensive jeopardization from biotic and abiotic risk factors due to climate change and the increased negative greenhouse effect.

They also point to the lack of workforce – an insufficient number of workers for seed picking, forestation and, afterward, taking care of the plants.

– The most valuable varieties of forest trees grow in an interval of three to five years, and that’s when it is necessary to secure the workforce for the collection, storage space and so on. In the case of major droughts, the yield is weaker and of a low quality. Without a sufficient quantity of seeds, there can be no sufficient quantity of saplings either. Mostly saplings two to three years old can be used for forestation, and only some varieties allow for one-year or four-year saplings. Anything over that means that the sapling is too old, that is, that the forestation success rate is low, which is why it is not rational to plant older saplings (big costs with a greater degree of lack of success) – explains the Forest Administration.

The Administration has adopted decisions on the awarding of contracts for the production and procurement of equipment for the production of forest planting materials in 2022 and the awarding of contracts for forestation in the spring of 2022, and the documents can be found below the article.

Aleksandra Kekic

Click for the PDF file.

JP Srbijašume Beograd

JP Vojvodinašume Petrovaradin

Forest Administration

Marko Marinković

forests in Serbia

area under forests

forest land

National Inventory of Forests of the Republic of Serbia

state owned forests

grazing land

Basics of Forest Management

artificial forestation

forestation plan

Strategy of the Development of Forestry

Law on Forests

Law on the Reproductive Material of Forest Trees

Law on the Spatial Plan of the Republic of Serbia

National Forest Action Plan

forest planting material

ameloiration of forests

conversion of forests

decision on the awarding of contracts for the production and procurement of the equipment for the production of forest planting materials in 2022

decision on the awarding of contracts for forestation in the spring of 2022