According to legal provisions, the Second National Forest Inventory in the Republic of Croatia
was supposed to be completed by the end of 2019, and its results were to be publicly
available no later than December 31, 2020. However, even in 2024, the results are still not
available!
The importance of forests is highlighted by the fact that the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia
states that “forests are of interest to the Republic of Croatia and have its special protection” (Article
52 of the Constitution). The Constitution (Article 3) also states that “the preservation of nature and
the human environment, as well as the rule of law, are among the highest values of the
constitutional order of the Republic of Croatia.”
The Forest Act, in line with the Constitution, regulates the management, utilization, and disposal of
forests and forest land according to the principles of sustainable management, economic and
ecological acceptability, and social responsibility. The Government of the Republic of Croatia,
through the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, manages forests and forest lands in the
interest of the Republic of Croatia according to the principles of transparency, predictability,
efficiency, and accountability.
In order to implement pan-European criteria for sustainable forest management and to consider the
public interest in forest management, all other forest owners (private individuals, the church,
entrepreneurs…) must also manage forests according to forest management plans, which they are
required to renew or revise every ten years.
International Obligation
Based on the Helsinki and Strasbourg Resolutions and the obligations to participate in the EU CORINE
Biotopes program, the Government of the Republic of Croatia identified the implementation of the
national forest inventory in 2004 as one of its priority tasks and included it in the National Program
for the Accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union.
Thus, Croatia committed to conducting a national inventory of forest resources, as defined by the
Forest Act and the Regulation on the Content and Manner of Conducting the National Inventory of
Forest Resources.
The Regulation on the Content and Manner of Conducting the National Inventory of Forest Resources
(NN 53/2006) stipulates a ten-year period between two inventories, with a three-year
implementation period.
It Started Well But…
The first national forest resource inventory of the Republic of Croatia was completed in 2009, with
field measurements conducted from 2006 to 2008, and its results were published in 2010. According
to legal provisions, the Second National Forest Inventory (evaluation and measurement on field plots
and photographs) was supposed to be completed by the end of 2019, and its results were to be
publicly available by December 31, 2020. However, even in 2024, the results of the second inventory
are still not available!
Where Did It Stall?
Although the Second National Forest Inventory was supposed to be completed by the end of 2019,
the Ministry of Agriculture only adopted the regulation on its implementation on October 2, 2019
(NN 94/2019). On March 29, 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture announced the procurement process
for the preparation of the second national forest resource inventory, but the State Commission for
the Control of Public Procurement Procedures canceled the procurement documentation on April 28
of the same year "…in the part affected by illegality."
On December 7, 2022, the Ministry repeated the procurement process for the inventory service, and
the Government of the Republic of Croatia only gave consent on September 7, 2023, for the Ministry
of Agriculture to assume obligations from the state budget of the Republic of Croatia for 2024 and
2025 for the implementation of the contract for the second national forest resource inventory.
In the spring of 2024, the first measurements for the second national forest resource inventory
(CRONFI II) began, which, according to optimistic forecasts, should be completed by the end of 2025.
Consequently, the results of the inventory will be delayed by six years or more!
Something’s Fishy
It is evident that the responsible institutions did not prepare in a timely manner. Can we expect the
explanation for this scandalous delay to include the usual excuse of a “lack of political will” or some
other transparent alibi?
Interestingly, the Green Squad publicly announced in the very year that was supposed to be the final
year of forest “measurement” that Hrvatske šume d.o.o. (Croatian Forests Ltd.) had shown a deficit
of almost 20 million cubic meters of wood mass, worth approximately one billion euros, compared to
the level that should have been reported if the forests had been managed legally and professionally.
Had the inventory been completed on time, the reasons for the catastrophic forest management
would likely have been revealed, as clearly visible in the 2020 Consolidated Annual Financial Report
of independent auditors. It states in black and white that in 2020, there were 6,091 hectares more
scrubland and bushes compared to the previous year, 2019. Furthermore, the net timber stock
value during just one year of managing state forests was reduced by 5.1 billion HRK (approx. 680
million euros), and compared to 2019, the total estimated value of forests for 2020 was lower by 4
billion HRK (more than half a billion euros)!
Additionally, if the Second National Forest Inventory had been completed when it should have been,
it would have certainly confirmed the claims of the Green Squad, which insists that there are fewer
forests in Croatia because forest management has essentially turned into brutal exploitation, which,
unfortunately, continues to this day.
