Key message: Total forest area for commercial use is about 65% of all forest area
Assessment: The indicator relates to the total surface of commercial forests and commercial forests with planned management in Serbia compared to the forested surface. Sustainable forest management refers to the total area of forest covered by the plan. The management plan may be of operating type (management plan), or less specific. Of all Serbian forests, 52.2% are private property, 39.8% are state property, and 8% belong to other forms of ownership. Forest quality parameters are different, depending on the ownership. Although a share of state-owned forests in total Serbian forests is under 40%, their overall timber volume amounts to 48.5% or 196 m3/ha, while timber volume in the privately-owned forests (which make over 52% of the total forests) covers below 45%, or else 138 m3/ha. Most of state-owned forests are managed by public enterprises (PE) “Srbijašume”, “Vojvodinašume”, “Borjak” – Vrnjačka Banja and public enterprises for management of national parks. PE “Srbijašume” manages 17 forest estates, and PE “Vojvodinašume” is in charge of 4 estates. State-owned forests allocated for use by forest estates and private forests outside the protected areas are considered to be commercial forests. The total surface of commercial forests in Serbia is around 1,500,000 ha, or around 65% of the total forest surface.
Indicator Name: Forest management plans
Institution/Author: Environmental Protection Agency/Slaviša Popović
Use and interpretation:
The indicator shows the forested surface managed in accordance with plans, with respect of the principle of sustainable management of natural resources.
Key question(s) which indicator helps to answer
The indicator helps to answer the question: What is the level of sustainable management of natural forest resource?
Use of indicator
The indicators relates to the total surface of commercial forests and commercial forests with planned management in Serbia compared to the forested surface. Sustainable forest management refers to the total area of forest covered by the plan. The management plan may be operating type (management plan) or less specific. May be registered or approved by the cost of the public authorities, but that does not necessarily constitute a precondition.
Scale of appropriate use
52.2 % of Serbian forests are private property, 39.8% are state property, and 8% belong to other form of ownership. Forest quality parameters are different, depending on the ownership. Although state-owned forests make up less than 40% of total Serbian forests, the overall timber volume contained in them amounts to 48.5% or 196 m3/ha, while timber volume in the privately-owned forests (which make over 52% of the total forests) covers below 45%, or else 138 m3/ha.
Potential for aggregation:
Meaning of upward or downward trends (“good or bad”)
State-owned forests allocated for use by forest estates and private forests outside the protected areas are considered to be commercial forests. The total surface of commercial forests in Serbia is around 1,500,000 ha, or around 65% of the total forest surface.
Possible reasons for upward or downward trends:
Forests in the Republic of Serbia are managed by public enterprises. Most part of the state–owned forests are managed by “Srbijašume”, “Vojvodina Šume”, PE “Šume-Goč” – Vrnjačka Banja and National Parks. PE “Srbijašume” manages 17 forest estates, and PE “Vojvodina Šume” is in charge of 4 estates.
Every 10 years, a Special Management Baseline is issued for the state-owned forests and forest land (over 1,100,000 ha), allocated for use by public enterprises. The Baseline is subject to approval of the Forest Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management. The forest surface in Serbia included in management plans amounts to around 900,000 ha, which is around 45% of the entire forested surface or 53% of the total surface of the commercial forests.
Implications for biodiversity management of change in the indicator:
The indicator is traditionally described in annual state-of-the-environment reports in Serbia, and is determined as biodiversity indicator, according to The Rulebook on the National list of environmental protection indicators (Official Gazette of the Republic of Serbia No. 37/2011).
Units in which it is expressed:
Percent (%) of the total area of trees or other forest lands
Description of source data:
Republic Statistical Office
Calculation procedure:
The methodology defined by criteria UNECE / FAO. The methodology defined by the Statistical Office.
Most effective forms of presentation:
(graph types, maps, narratives, etc.-give examples where possible):
The best ways to present this indicator are graphs and tables.
Limits to usefulness and accuracy:
The data are obtained by the complete coverage of the reporting units of the Statistical Office. The accuracy of the data can be assessed as satisfactory. Precision depends exclusively on the delivery of data by all forest users.
Updating the indicator:
Annually
Closely related indicators
Timber consumption and sale, Forest pathway, Increment and wood cutting, Afforestation
Additional information and comments
