Skopje, 10 May 2023 (MIA) - Ambassador David Geer, Head of the Delegation of the European Union, Ljupcho Nikolovski, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy and Kaja Shukova, Minister of Environment and Physical Planning marked on Wednesday the official start of the EU-funded project “Support to Forestry Reforms in North Macedonia”.

“The project is supported by the EU with €1,26 million and will be implemented for two years, ending in March 2025. With it, the state will receive technical expertise for establishing a forest agency and for the transformation of the public enterprise "Makedosnki Shumi" into an efficient national forest authority,” said Nikolovski.

Web-based tools to thwart illegal logging will also be created, as well as a forest certification system on at least 100,000 hectares of the forests.

“The project includes four components, through which we will achieve a complete reorganization of the sector. We will have a new law for the establishment of a forest agency, a new law for the establishment of a state forestry company, which means the overall process of transformation and reorganization of the public enterprise “Makedonski Shumi”, we will introduce a new integrative system of forest management, a monitoring system, a system for monitoring timber table, many new tools that will help in the overall protection and monitoring of the early detection of forest fires…,” Nikolovski added.

According to EU Ambassador David Geer, forestry reforms are part of the negotiation process and the country's accession to the EU.

“For the first time, such a large IPA project financed by the EU is being implemented, which will enable the maintenance and preservation of forests. In fact, we are talking about laws, institutions that will implement these laws, as well as modern technological systems that will help preserve forests and their certification. All this that will happen and will be realized is part of the negotiation process, that is, part of the process of the country's accession to the EU,” Geer added.  

Forest Agency is to provide a system for forest certification on at least 100,000 hectares of the forests of North Macedonia.

The Minister of Environment and Physical Planning, Kaja Shukova, referred to the so-called Green Deal, which North Macedonia as an EU candidate country should implement, as well as to the new EU forest strategy for 2030.

“The strategy also aims to protect, restore and enlarge the areas under forests for the purpose to combat climate change, reverse biodiversity loss and ensure resilient multifunctional forest ecosystems,” Shukova said.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy will be the key interlocutor of the upcoming 2-years-reform for forest management. Closely associated with the basic principles of the EU Green Deal and the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, this reform aims towards better forest protection and conservation of the forest biodiversity.

Better economic, social and environmental management of the forests lead to better quality of life, in particular in the rural and mountain regions.

In 2020, the EU had an estimated 160 million hectares of forests, meaning that forests covered 39% of the EU land area. The largest forest areas in the EU were in Sweden (28 million hectares), Finland (22 million hectares) and Spain (19 million hectares).

Photo: MIA