ILLEGAL LOGGING AND TRADE OF ILLEGALLY-DERIVED FOREST PRODUCTS IN THE UNECE REGION: CAUSES AND EXTENT - Country report of the Republic of Macedonia - Prof. d-r Nikola Nikolov Faculty of forestry – Skopje • The Republic of Macedonia is situated in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula. The distance from the Aegean sea is approx. 60 km and from the Adriatic sea approx. 80 km. • The neighboring countries are: - on the west, Albania - on the south, Greece - on the east, Bulgaria - on the north, Serbia and Montenegro • Population: 1,945,932 (1994) • Total area: 25,713 km2 • Total forest land: 997.000 ha • Total agriculture area: 1.244.000 ha - about 51% are arable land - about 49% are pasture Land Use 4% 25% pastureland arrable land meadows 38% vineyards & orchards 21% barren land forest land 8% other 2% 2% FOREST AREA [ha] • Forest and forest land - 1 140 000 ha (unpublished data) • Covered with forest - 87.4% • Forest land - 12.6 % • Forests in state property - 89% • Forests in private property - 11% DominantDominant treestrees byby area:area: QuercusQuercus spp.spp. (oak);(oak); FagusFagus spp.spp. (beech)(beech) 12% 8% oak 50% beech pine 30% other Forest distribution by purpose • Economic forests - 92% • Protective forest - 2% • Forests for special purpose - 6 % • Generative forest – area - 262 790 ha (29%) – timber volume- 46.9 *106 m3 (63%) – growth – 3.45 m3/ha • Coppices – area - 643 210 ha (71%) – timber volume - 27.4 *106 m3 (37%) – growth – 1.44 m3/ha Legal regulations and Organization in forestry The status of forests is basically defined by the Constitution of the Republic of Macedonia as a natural resource of public interest placed under special protection regulated by a law. The forest resources in the Republic of Macedonia are managed by the Ministry of agriculture, forestry and water supply, in coordination with the Public enterprise (Makedonski {umi) Macedonian forests – Skopje. There are 30 regional forestry units dispersed throughout, governed by the Public enterprise. The hierarchic-organizational arrangement is the following: Ministry for agriculture, forestry and water supply → Executive board → Public enterprise “Macedonian forests” → 30 regional forestry units. Forestry production The volume and intensity of timber harvested in public forests in the Republic of Macedonia is determined and limited with cutting plans and amounts to 1 341 525 m3/year, which, compared to last year's growth (1 830 000) represents 73,7%, or 1,8 % of the total timber mass. For a number of objective and subjective reasons, the determined volume is used at an average rate of 71, 5 %. Table 6 Sort Public forests Private forests Total % m3 m3 m3 Industrial 177 000 17 400 194 400 18.00 timber Fuel-wood 691 000 91 600 782 600 72.00 Scraps 90 000 8 000 98 000 10.00 Total: 958 000 117 000 1 075 000 100 Forest protection The most frequent problems facing Macedonian forestry from the forest protection aspects are: forest fires, illegal cutting, some kinds of insects, climatic changes-forest dieback etc. Authority for monitoring forest health and condition is the Reporting Diagnostic and Prognostic Service located in the Faculty of forestry in Skopje. Physical protection of the forest authority is the Forests police as a part of the Ministry of agriculture, forestry and water supply. There has been a steady increase of illegal logging and timber theft in the last few years, as result of the unfavorable social and economic conditions in Macedonia. The total number of illegal logging cases in the last two years is 14 586. The number of borne submits (2002 and 2003 year) from the Forests police to the administration of justice Table 7 Number of borne submits Number Forests police station Total 2002 2003 1 Skopje 546 285 831 2 Tetovo 87 237 324 3 Gostivar 428 257 685 4 Kichevo 932 675 1607 5 Struga 397 378 775 6 Demi Hisar 875 582 1457 7 Bitola 276 375 651 8 Prilep 519 450 969 9 Kavadarci 67 81 148 10 Veles 147 241 388 11 Kumanovo 45 58 103 12 Kriva Palanka 87 95 182 13 Delchevo 39 75 114 14 Berovo 161 137 298 15 Kochani 218 385 603 16 Shtip 206 206 412 17 Radovish 764 883 1647 18 Strumica 1744 1408 3152 19 Valandovo 115 125 240 Total 7653 6933 14 586 Source: Forests police-Ministry of agriculture, forestry and water utilization The data for temporary taken away wood (from the side of the Forests police) Number Forests police Fuel wood - m3 Timber - m3 Other technical Evidenced wood on station wood - m3 the field- m3 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 Table 8 1 Skopje 257,50 239,63 / / / 1,50 / 360,14 2 Tetovo 44,00 72,75 / 7,70 / / / 9,50 3 Gostivar 39,45 101,20 / / / / / / 4 Kichevo 301,97 251,96 6,80 / / / 4,04 30,74 5 Struga 90,24 79,03 / / / 2,44 / / 6 Demi Hisar 78,26 207,13 1,30 / / / 291,36 365,00 7 Bitola 169,00 110,81 1,85 / / / 84,50 156,37 8 Prilep 166,76 314,60 / / 9,32 11,60 158,84 116,00 9 Kavadarci 44,76 54,75 / 4,15 / 2,00 / / 10 Veles 217,80 181,34 / / / / 380,00 609,46 11 Kumanovo 23,40 30,50 / / / 0,30 34,90 57,74 12 Kriva Palanka 8,90 169,24 / 26,14 / / / 184,03 13 Delchevo 8,40 63,80 0,80 11,20 / 3,60 / / 14 Berovo 89,30 71,43 43,26 30,37 1,80 11,88 33,00 46,00 15 Kochani 175,00 210,55 / 4,00 2,00 1,00 34,55 5,25 16 Shtip 96,65 162,90 9,95 / / / / 78,11 17 Radovish 333,92 139,93 / 29,59 / / 169,34 137,72 18 Strumica 134,10 54,90 / / / / / / 19 Valandovo 96,75 108,86 / / 1,04 / 41,00 16,22 Total 2376,16 2625,31 63,96 113,15 14,16 34,32 1231,53 2172,28 Total 2002+2003 5001,47 177,11 48,48 3403,81 Source: Forests police-Ministry of agriculture, forestry and water utilization The total amount of illegal cut wood is 8 630, 87 m3. The data for temporary confiscated: tools, vehicles, animals etc. Temporary confiscated: tools, vehicles, animals etc. Submitted to the Num Forests administra ber Trucks Cars Tractors Tractors Chan Other Teams of Axes Saws Other tion of horses justice police station + trailers saws trailers 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 200 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 2002 2003 3 1 Skopje 9 20 20 31 / / 2 2 4 3 1 2 / / 30 17 1 4 / / yes 2 Tetovo 4 3 / 3 / / 1 3 / 1 / 1 / / 6 / / / / / yes 3 Gostivar 1 9 1 11 / 3 / / 2 2 / / / / / / / 8 / / yes 4 Kichevo / 2 4 18 / / / / 12 4 / / / / 12 10 31 26 2 11 yes 5 Struga 3 / / / / / / / 1 1 / / / / 2 / 14 / 15 5 yes 6 Demi Hisar 4 5 1 11 / / / / 1 5 / 3 / / 4 2 1 1 / 2 yes 7 Bitola 3 3 7 6 1 / 2 / 8 / 3 4 2 1 2 2 9 12 / / yes 8 Prilep 4 16 23 35 2 2 2 3 4 5 1 2 9 34 7 15 43 37 6 6 yes 9 Kavadarci 1 3 2 / / / / 1 1 / / / 1 1 1 6 1 5 / / yes 10 Veles 3 2 6 4 1 1 3 1 4 9 / / / 4 5 9 3 10 1 1 yes 11 Kumanovo / / 1 / 1 / 2 / / / / / 1 / 1 / 1 / / / yes 12 Kriva / / / / / / / / / / / / / / 3 9 / 2 / / yes Palanka 13 Delchevo / / 2 2 / / / 2 4 1 2 3 / / 2 2 1 6 3 / yes 14 Berovo / / / / 1 / / 7 1 / / / 2 / 1 / 1 / 7 / yes 15 Kochani 1 3 3 11 1 1 1 8 2 4 / / / 1 / 27 5 8 2 / yes 16 Shtip 1 4 5 24 / / 1 / 8 10 / / 2 2 15 15 32 28 2 / yes 17 Radovish 12 4 8 13 3 3 4 4 3 5 / 1 / 1 5 2 7 2 / / yes 18 Strumica 2 2 3 6 1 / 4 1 5 1 / / 3 3 10 12 2 3 / 2 yes 19 Valandovo / 5 12 19 / / 1 1 6 3 / 2 / 10 8 12 1 1 / / yes Total 48 81 98 194 11 10 23 33 66 53 7 18 20 57 114 140 153 153 38 27 Total 2002+2003 129 292 21 56 119 25 77 254 306 65 Source: Forests police-Ministry of agriculture, forestry and water utilization The main types of illegal logging in the Republic of Macedonia are: 1. Logging without permission or concession from public forests. 2. Wood theft or illegal logging from private forests. 3. False declaration of volumes, species, values or origins of harvested wood. 4. Logging in prohibited areas. 5. Obtaining logging authorization through bribes. 6. Killing or burning trees so that they can be logged. In total, according to my opinion, the volume of illegally logged wood in my country is from 25 to 30% (mostly fuel wood). The main reasons for illegal logging in the Republic of Macedonia are: 1. The unfavorable social and economic conditions in Macedonia. 2. The small number of forests policeman’s. 3. The inefficient working of the administration of justice. .