Croatian forests Ltd - feudal lord or law enforcer?

Sa？etak EDITORIAL We should never be concerned about the themes and topicality of this column of Forestry Journal. Every now and then the media reports on the latest misunderstandings and even conflicts between the forestry profession and amateur associations which imagine that they know everything about forestry. Interestingly, they never meddle in surgery, for example. The Voice of Istria recently wrote: The battle of the Motovun Forest continues - Truffle hunting people strike back: The company Croatian Forests Ltd behaves like a feudal lord! This topic will be dealt with more extensively on the basis of exact data in one of the columns of the next double issue of Forestry Journal. Feudalism is a form of social system that prevailed in the Middle and part of the New Age and was abolished in 1848. A feudal lord was a land owner who had other people working for him. Is the company Croatian Forests Ltd the owner of the land - forest and does it match these criteria? To answer these questions we should first consult the law, in this case the Forest Law. Article 2 (1) of the said Law states: Forests and forest land are natural goods of interest to the Republic of Croatia and enjoy its particular protection. In the same article (3) it is stated that the Government of the Republic of Croatia manages forests and forest land in the interest of the Republic of Croatia according to the principles listed further on. Article 3 (1) states: Forests and forest land constitute specific forest wealth and together with non-market and market forest functions dictate a particular manner of planning, management and usage according to the principles of sustainable forest management. (2) Sustainable management of forests means using forests and forest land in the manner and to the extent to which it maintains its biodiversity, productivity, regeneration capacity, vitality and potential to, now and in the future, fulfil the relevant ecological, economic and social functions locally, nationally and globally without inflicting harm to other ecosystems. The Croatian forestry profession has applied the principle of sustainability to Croatian forests for over 250 years. In addition to commercial forest functions (production of wood assortments, production of forest reproductive material and production of non-wood forest products), we should bear in mind that it also ensures its non-market functions listed in article 4 (1) to (9). Therefore, management of this most complex ecosystem excludes amateurism and interest groups! Sadly and illogically, but true, politics which should