Politically Designed Ecocide
A Policy of Devastation of Enormous Proportions
I
On the day of accession to the European Union in 2013, Croatia undertook an obligation, amongst other things, to comply with directives of the European Parliament and the European Council on promoting the use of energy from renewable sources, including forest wood – tree and tree canopy, and wood residues from wood processing.
Through numerous incentive measures that facilitated the construction of a number of power plants, through the Ministry of Agriculture and the state company Croatian Forests Ltd (Hrvatske šume d.o.o.) the Government of the Republic of Croatia has also ensured the prompt supply of power plants with the required amount of fuel at a scandalously low purchase price of wood, compared to prices on foreign markets.
Today, more than 100 biomass power plants are registered in Croatia, 18 of which are still under construction, with a total consumption of more than 1,700,000 tons of wood.
Although the very thought of burning a huge part of a valuable forest resource is scandalous, we found that private power plant owners do not prioritize energy production. Due to the large difference between the purchase, preferential price and the price of wood on the foreign market, a huge part of the wood mass was redirected to resale and all owners to make quick and easy money.
Although the very thought of burning a huge part of a valuable forest resource is scandalous, we found that private power plant owners do not prioritize energy production. Due to the large difference between the purchase, preferential price and the price of wood on the foreign market, a huge part of the wood mass was redirected to resale and all owners to make quick and easy money.
At the same time, the Government of the Republic of Croatia adopted a plan for the recovery of the wood industry, and in the same way, with numerous incentives and unrealistically low purchase prices of wood mass, facilitated producers’ competitiveness on foreign markets.
In the past decade, the number of registered new sawmills has grown from year to year, and many of them, although only formally registered with one employee, exercised the right to purchase logs from Croatian Forests Ltd at discounted prices. As in the case of biomass power plants, sawmill owners instantly resold the logs on the foreign market.
II
Roles in the scheme of politically designed ecocide:
1.
The Government of the Republic of Croatia – in cooperation with numerous state agencies and offices, devises a policy of allocating incentive procurement of wood at scandalously low prices, for the so-called “recovery” of the wood industry and for the production of electricity and heat from wood biomass.
2.
State company Croatian Forests Ltd (Hrvatske šume d.o.o.) – in cooperation with licensed forestry contractors, from year to year provide an increasing amount of wood mass for the implementation of the policy of recovery of the wood industry and energy production from wood biomass.
3.
Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Croatia – enacts a regulation of permitted felling and approves ten-year forest management plans owned by the Republic of Croatia
Although it is often clear that Croatian forests have made huge losses of wood in the past, and that the new plan even provides for felling bigger than the increment!
The Minister of Agriculture is always the president and the only member of the Assembly of the Croatian Forests Ltd!
4.
The Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (ex Min Environmental Protection) confirms by a decision that the ten-year planned management is in accordance with the ecological network and the Nature Protection Act,
Although plans often provide for excessive logging and, consequently, ignoring catastrophically harmful impact on strictly protected habitats and species of flora and fauna.
5.
State Inspectorate of the Republic of Croatia – controls compliance with and implementation of laws in forest management,
But “does not see” the implementation of excessive logging, forest management without approved Management Plans and a number of other illegal activities carried out for years in the company Croatian Forests.
Remark:
The Forestry Inspectorate, like the Croatian Forests ltd it supervised, has been part of the Ministry of Agriculture for years, and its undisputed superior was the Minister of Agriculture, who is both the president and the only member of the Assembly, the highest governing body of Croatian Forests!
Only on April 1, 2019, the Forestry Inspectorate became part of the State Inspectorate of the Republic of Croatia.
6.
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Croatia
In almost all cases “does not see” and does not prosecute licensed forestry contractors found in illegal logging, illegal transport or sale of timber, although an official report has been filed against the violator.
