BEFT mission is to achieve greater environmental, economic and social justice, focusing on renewable energy, forests and forest peoples’ rights in the policies and practices of the
Western Balkan Countries
Our team of experts over years collected various statistics related to forests and forestry in the Balkan Region. They include statistics on woodland area, planting, timber, trade, climate change, environment, efficiency, employment and finance & prices as well as some statistics on international forestry.
Forest policy is considered to be a negotiated agreement between government and stakeholders (i.e. all those who depend on or benefit from forests or who decide on, control or regulate access to these resources) on the orientations and principles of actions they adopt, in harmony with national socioeconomic and environmental policies, to guide and determine decisions on the sustainable use and conservation of forest and tree resources for the benefit of society. A national forest policy is not to be unilaterally imposed by government. Ideally, it is an agreement among bodies that represent different forest interests and is formally adopted by government. With this in mind we are pursuing and supporting dialog between various stakeholders in this process.
Forest Watchdog is process of critically monitoring of the activities of governments, industry, or other organizations and alerting the public when the actions is detected that goes against the public interest in the forest sector. We facilitate exchange of information between civil society organizations and centers for investigative reporting and journalism with aim to protect public interest in the forest sector.
Promotion of short rotation biomass plantations as a way of protecting mature forests, improving the natural qualities of landscape under the conditions in different Balkan countries and securing sustainable biomass energy supply to support market stabilization.
Urban forestry is the careful care and management of tree populations in urban settings for the purpose of improving the urban environment. Urban forestry advocates the role of trees as a critical part of the urban infrastructure. Our team is promoting this role in the Balkan countries.
We work with kids and develop programs that re-build relation with forests.
“Let the children be free; encourage them; let them run outside when it is raining; let them remove their shoes when they find a puddle of water; and, when the grass of the meadows is damp with dew, let them run on it and trample it with their bare feet; let them rest peacefully when a tree invites them to sleep beneath its shade; let them shout and laugh when the sun wakes them in the morning as it wakes every living creature that divides its day between waking and sleeping.”
