EFI, FOPER

FOPER Newsletter

June 2012, Volume 5

This issue of the FOPER  Newsletter is filled with examples of all of the various activities and accomplishments of the FOPER  Team. We are expanding our networks across Europe and Beyond through aca-demic exchanges, internships, acceptance in European doctoral pro-grams, new positions, presentations in international conferences, and publications. I leave you to discover who is doing which of these ac-tivities when you read this Newsletter!

This summer will be filled with Master’s Theses defenses, bringing to-gether at least a few of us at a time. In this Newsletter, you will find the schedule of those Master’s Thesis Defenses currently scheduled. For those of you FOPER II MSc students who have not scheduled your defense, NOW IS THE TIME TO DO SO!!

Please send stories about your field work – with pictures – adventures for our summer newsletter!!

Happy Summer Writing to the whole FOPER Team.

Prof. dr. Margaret A. Shannon,

FOPER Coordinator

Greetings from the FOPER  House and Garden!! Seems like only a few days ago when we had snow and then rain. However, during that short, hot, sunny period at the beginning of April, we managed to plant the FOPER  Garden. For some crops, we are already on the second planting. So, the house, garden and grill are ready for summer activities!

FOPER  changed pace these last few months, as everyone worked on field research, data analysis, and writing of master’s theses, doctoral dissertations, and research papers. I think we all felt a bit lonely. We are used to working together, playing together, cooking and eating together, and studying together. That is the FOPER WAY!! So now we need to develop our virtual FOPER  way so that we remain a very productive and effi-cient team of researchers by supporting and encouraging each other!

FOPER Toward Europe 13

FOPER Internships

Yes it is Possible - When You Have a Vision

Inside this issue:

3rd Doctoral Colloquium Focus Group Seminar

IUFRO Small Scale Forestry Conference

3rd FOPER SC Meeting 2

3

4

5 15th European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF) 6

8

Being in the City Of Science 11

9

Letter of the Best FOPER II MSc student FOPER II MSc Retrospective 14

ECPR Summer School 7

FOPER Actualities 15

Winter and Summer School An student`s overview

Third Steering Committee Meeting

Opening Ceremony

Posters of CRRT, MSc and PhD proposals in the hall of the Faculty

FOPER Steering Committee

As a part of annual FOPER Steering Committee meeting, a special Seminar on European For-est Policy and Research was held at the Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade. Main topic of Seminar was new European Union Timber Regulation, which will enter into force March 2013. At the very beginning of Seminar, participants were welcomed by the Dean of the Faculty of Forestry, Professor Dr. Milan Medarević, who wished successful work and a pleasant stay at the Faculty to all participants. Participants were also welcomed by Dr Saša Orlović of the Direc-torate for Forests, Mrs Nada Dragović undersecretary in the Ministry of Education and Science, and Dr Ljubinko Rakonjac director of Serbian Institute for Forestry. For the FOPER Project, participants were welcomed by Prof. Dr Margaret Shannon, FOPER Coordinator. From the Finnish Ministry of Foreign affairs, Mrs Anu Rama and Mr. Vesa Kaaraka, key persons respon-sible for the FOPER project, were present. The first day of seminar was dedicated to the changes in the EU regarding forests. First, Hubert Inhaizer, policy expert from EFICENT/OEF presented an overview of the new EU Timber Regulation as well as the results of research by EFI on key elements in its implementation. The EU TR is aimed at ensuring that illegally harvested wood and wood products are not imported into the EU. The regulation makes the first importer into the EU responsible for due diligence in ensuring legality. Dr. Ilpo Tikkannen provided a presentation about New Strategic Decisions on Forest Policies and Governance in Europe focusing on the development of a Legally Binding Convention on Forests currently under development. Then Mr Tomi Tuomasjukka provided an overview of the EU efforts on preventing illegal logging through the FLEGT Action Plan. Broader influence of Seminar was achieved by the presence of wood processing industry entrepreneurs that are ex-porting wood to the EU Member States and therefore are directly influenced by EUTR Second day of Seminar was dedicated to FOPER research. During the morning session all seven FOPER Collaborative Regional Research Projects (CRRT) were presented by project coordinators. All of PhD and Master Students included in these projects had an opportunity to present their thesis to the broader audience. This was very first time for Master Students to present their proposals to audience outside of FOPER, and all of the students evaluated this as very positive, because of the discussion which was initiated by their presentation, and very useful comments which they got from participants. During both days, participants had an opportunity to enjoy in exhibition of posters made by PhD and Master Students with proposals of their thesis as well as posters of CRRT.

FOPER Steering committee was held in the afternoon at November 4th and host for partici-pants was Institute for Forestry from Belgrade. The Finnish Ambassador to Serbia, Mr Pekka Opana, joined the committee for dinner that evening. Prior to dinner, the committee had a cheese tasting of regional and Finnish cheeses together with the FOPER wines. Discussions among participants were present during the official part of seminar, as well as dur-ing the breaks, and all participants evaluated Seminar as very successful.

3-4th of November, 2011, Belgrade, Serbia

Group picture of all participants at the Seminar

Vladimir Nikolić, FOPER MSc student Photos made by Bruno Marić,

FOPER MSc student

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Winter and Summer School

From a student`s point of view

The EFI`s winter and summer school model (WSS) as graduate college program, aims at creating collaborative research networks on topics of high relevance for forests and environment at the European level. Engaging PhD students is important component of accomplishing the EFI`s mission to strengthen and mobilize European forest research and expertise to address policy-relevant needs. The EFI WSS model is constituted out of two direct-teaching weeks and several months planned for students work on their individual assignments in between the two terms for lecturing. First EFI´s Winter and Summer School “Making Values Work - exploring multiple perspectives in understanding the valuation of forest ecosystems” was hosted by EFICENT and FOPER Project. Usually when you are doing review of an event that you organized, together with your organizational team you go through the predefined ob-

jectives and goals discussing what was well and what was not. Teams also use evaluation forms to see the students` perception about logistics, accom-modation, content of the event, facilities, etc. Therefore, I will try to sum-marize what they missed in evaluation of the WSS or simply what they missed to ask students When I arrived to the beautiful house in Black Forest, I did not notice any-thing that would make this event different or unique in any way. I arrived at 9pm and there were already dozen students in the classroom. I introduced myself to the ones I did not know before and I continued to talk with the ones I knew from previous events. During the free time (with the amount of work we had there was not too much of it) students chat with people they knew the best or with the people that speak the same language or the ones that are studying in the same Universities… Still nothing happend which would make this event special! Over the next few days we listened excellent lectures, worked in groups and tried to accomplish goals set by our teachers. The week in Black Forest passed really fast and I said goodbye to my new friends - “Until we meet in Varaždin!” Now I am little bit closer to the point I want to make with this article. Sev-

eral months later, we met in Varaždin for the second week of the EFI´s WSS teaching. Students joined together on Sunday evening at a Pizza place for a snack after a long day of traveling. Well, here is the first extraordinary thing I noticed about the WSS. All of us already knew each other. We had a big round table for the group and no one was sitting! Each student tried to talk with as many colleagues as possible. And that is something that you do not see very often at students events! I took a moment to observe the group and I started to feel more comfortable knowing that we now have a chance to meet the objectives set for the second week - whole group had to write one article based on the outcomes of the WSS. During the week in Varaždin, we had interesting days and teachers did a great job leading us through the theories, methodologies and practical ex-amples related to the valuation of forest ecosystems. Close to the end of the week, the extraordinary design of the EFI´s WSS had paid off. Students, with small help of teachers, organized themselves into the groups to fulfill the first small part of the objective: to prepare the poster to be presented four days later at the EFI Marketplace during the EFI Annual Conference in Uppsala, Sweden. Now, several weeks after the EFI´s Winter and Summer School, students are independently working and planning the events to finalize the first EFI´s Winter and Summer School paper. Working title of the paper is “Making forest values work: enhancing multi-dimensional perspectives towards sus-tainable forest management”. As I mentioned, something had made this event unique and therefore I would like to underline these points: Two weeks` event of direct teaching which required students qualification achieved by accomplishing the task set in first week had assured the quality and seriousness of the students and their work. Also, intensive pace required close cooperation with the people which, in most of the cases, you see for the first time in your life. And that is something which is precious and rare to achieve from such a short teaching programs. Also, EFI´s junior staff involved in the event, both as logistical support and as students, provides a connection between all of the WSS students and EFI. The innovative design of the EFI´s Winter and Summer School showed all its potential towards the end of second week and continues to show how innovation can contribute to the creation of an excellent product. Finally, I hope that the excellent hosting of the WSS by EFICENT and FOPER will set the standards for organizing of future to EFI´s Winter and Summer Schools.

Group photo in Freiburg

Group photo in Varaždin

Doni Blagojević, FOPER II Project Officer

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The Third, bi-annual FOPER Doctoral Colloquium took place at FOPERHouse in Varaždin. The first Colloquium was held in December 2010 in Sarajevo and the second June 2011 in Belgrade. Doctoral Colloquium is opportunity as well as an obligation for students supported by the FOPER program to present their PhD proposals. Students are already enrolled in PhD academic studies at their home Universities or at Universities abroad. Students that are part of FOPER PhD support program came from Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences – BOKU Vienna and Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg. Seven PhD students from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia participated at colloquium. Beside students, Prof. Dr. Margaret Shannon, Prof. Dr. Maureen McDonough and Prof. Dr. Brandon Anthony were present at the Colloquium.

Third Doctoral Colloquium

10-11th of September, 2011 Varaždin, Croatia

Focus Group Seminar

12-13th of September 2011 Varaždin, Croatia

Doctoral students presented progress on their PhD research proposals. After each presentation, participants had discussion about methodology for data gathering and data analysis. Discussion was in a form of work group sessions where PhD students, together with professors, had critiqued the proposals. Professors were very committed and gave us useful comments, critiques and recommendations. Each student gained from constructive criticism during the discussion. Third Colloquium was important for students in order to create plans for field research and data analysis. Next Colloquium will be opportunity to share experience from the field. FOPER house as well as Varaždin was hospitable place for all participants and somehow it has become our second home.

Pleasant atmosphere at the FOPER House

The new educational approach promoted by FOPER once again proved as very useful. In the pleasant atmosphere of the FOPER house 6 PhD students: Silvija Krajter, Renata Gagić, Ilija Đorđević, Doni Blagojević, Andrej Verlič and Vladimir Stojanovski had the opportunity to learn about organizing and conducting Focus Groups. All of the participants followed the lectures of Prof. Dr. Maureen McDonough from Michigan State University with great interest. Maureen had harmonized the lectures with spirit of the FOPER house and the lectures were organized on a true family way by living and working in FOPER house. This way of teaching brought the participants together as one big family. The lectures were organized very well and every participant knew her/his role. For two days, students learned how to organize and conduct a focus group, learned how to develop a focus group protocol, learned how to solve problems that may arise during the process, and learned how to process the data by developing a coding system. Also, students had an opportunity to experiment in organizing of focus groups where each student participated as facilitator or as actor. The experiment was very successful, because the students became familiar with the possible problems and conflicts. Overall, it was a great experience and lots of new knowledge was gained. What is more- students will use this approach in CRRT FOPER FORCITY research project that deals with urban forests in SEE region.

Vladimir Stojanovski PhD student

BOKU University, Vienna 4

Zoran Poduška Research Assistant

Forestry Institute, Belgrade

Doc. dr. Stjepan Posavec, Faculty of Forestry, Zagreb

Jelena Nedeljković

PhD student, Faculty of Forestry, Belgrade

Karlo Beljan Junior Researcher, Faculty of Forestry,

Zagreb

Report on the IUFRO Small-Scale Forestry Conference

24-28th of July, 2011 Freiburg, Germany

Since it is obvious that there is a complex networks between social, ecological and economic issues that are results of diverse interactions between owners, stakeholder groups and the environment, this IUFRO conference aimed to make these interactions visible, with special attention to the fact that they can be synergistic or conflicting. IUFRO International Conference: Small-Scale Forestry: Synergies and Conflicts in Social, Ecological and Economic Interactions were organized by the Institute of Forest and Environmental Policy at Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg and the Department of Forest Economics at the Forest Research Institute (FVA) Freiburg, Germany in conjunction with the IUFRO 3.08 Research Group "Small-scale forestry". The conference topics of special interest were: • Benefits of small-scale forests to owners and society • Ecological and social restrictions imposed on small-scale forest owners • Private timber supply and regional economies • Private forests and climate change: bio-energy v. carbon sinks • Small-scale forests in a large-scale landscape: The influence of cumulative effects. • Policy tools addressing small holders´ needs/interests • Forests for the future: Products and ecosystem services from small-scale forests • New forestland tenures Dr. Stjepan Posavec, Karlo Beljan, Nenad Petrović, Jelena Nedeljković and Marko Marinković attended the Conference, as a part of the FOPER Team. They had presented the following papers::

“The Structure and Potential of Small Scale Forests in the North-West of Croatia” (Posavec, S., Šašek, M., Beljan, K.) presented by Stjepan Posavec and Karlo Beljan, “The Preconditions for the Formation of Private Forest Owners’ Interest Associations in the Western Balkan Region” (Glück P., Avdibegović M., Čabaravdić A., Nonić D., Petrovic N., Posavec S. and Stojanovska M.) presented by Nenad Petrović and “Possibility of associating small scale enterprises in the Timok forest area: Entrepreneurs and decision makers’ attitudes toward cluster establishment” (Nonić, D., Ranković, N., Marinković, M., Nedeljković, J., Gla-vonjić, P.) presented by Jelena Nedeljković and Marko Marinković. After the Conference, a meeting with Prof. Schraml was held regarding the preparation of questionnaire for the FOPER CRRT research proposal:

Opportunities for Wood Energy Production from Small Scale Forests in the SEE Region – WESSPROFOR. Field excursion took place at the 3rd day of Conference. Participants visited the Black Forest and saw examples of forest management in small-scale forests. The leading speakers were Christoph Hartebrodt and Ulrich Schraml. From forestry professionals` perspective, problems in small-scale forests are similar in most European countries: small forest parcels, great number of private forest owners, legislative problems, lack of management plans, and lack of private forest owners associations. Having the opportunity to meet people with the same occupation was a very useful experience, both in terms of our future research and for the work on WESSPROFOR FOPER project.

Prof. Schraml with private forest owner

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15th European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF)

8-12 of May, 2012 Leipzig, Germany

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Sometimes life is hard. In my case it goes for two excellent conferences taking place at the same time: IUFRO all division 9 conference in Sarajevo and EFUF in Leipzig. I have chosen Leipzig for three reasons: as being a coordinator of FORCITY project, I have an obli-gation to spread the word on our urban forestry related work in SEE countries; personal and professional curiosity as a graduate student with topic related to urban forestry, and as a person involved in organisation of IUFRO conference on urban forest governance to be held 27-28 September 2012 in Zagreb. Therefore, my mission was to make an announcement about IUFRO conference to EFUF partici-pants and to introduce the SEE region as a hot spot for future urban forestry research starting with FOPER FORCITY project. Not to be confused, there is research related to urban forests in the SEE countries, but there is lack of research on social and economical aspects of urban forestry as well. This fact goes beyond SEE region. FORCITY project is an attempt to change this poor statistics. Still, in my interaction with other participants of this and some other events, I have realised that SEE region is not perceived as a place of urban forestry related research of any kind. Even brief visit to Scopus can tell you why it is so. There are only a few publications in Scopus from the region related to urban forestry. Sapientia sat. (=enough has been said for the wise). This was my first EFUF, but to lots of participants EFUF is a must-be-there place. This year general topic was the role of urban forests in provision of ecosystem services and their sustainable management, especially in relation to the problem of delivering these services and maintaining urban forests and urban green spaces with declining public sector budgets. Presentations will soon be available online on conference web-page (http://www.ufz.de/efuf2012/). Until than I would like to point to some presentations I have found interesting. Presentation “Green technologies for the development of sustainable and climate resilient cities” by Prof. Marina Bergen Jensen from University of Copenhagen addressed the role of urban forests in mitigating effects of climate change, such as storm water that has caused huge flooding in Copenhagen several times from 2007. Smartly designed urban forests helps in storm water draining by increas-ing soil permeability and at the same time decreasing the effect of soil sealing in cities. That in combination with green technologies, such as dual porosity filtration technology patented by her team might prove helpful in adaptation to climate change. The concept of green infrastructure is gaining great importance in providing ecosystem services in cities as has been seen in several presentations. Pre-liminary results of study commissioned by IFPRA (International Federation of Parks and Recreation Administration) about benefits of urban parks showed that there is not so much evidence in peer-reviewed scientific literature based on quality research on benefits of urban parks, especially when it comes to cultural and aesthetic benefits that are hard to quantify. Green roofs are another interesting concept, presented by Prof. C.Y. Jim from University of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is densely populated and poor in green space. Green roofs, even though expensive, contribute to increasing green space cover and could pay off in long term, since the study shows heath island effect on building with green roofs decreasing for 1-2 °C and it could be significant to decreasing bills for air-conditioning. D.Sc. Matilda Annerstedt, M.D., in her presentation addressed population health as an ecosystem service that urban forestry can provide. World Health Organisation reported non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular diseases, obesity and diabetes together with mental disorders, to be by far the leading cause of mortality in more than 60% of cases and the number is expected to rise in the future. NCDs are also called lifestyle diseases. Physical inactivity is one of risk factors connected with lifestyle. Urban forests have potentially positive effect on human health; therefore, urban forest policies should be connected with public health policies to help pro-moting recreation in nature considering all the physical and mental benefits. Connecting urban forests with human health might push them up the ladder of political agendas and increase the funding. Next year EFUF is going to take place in Milan (Italy). Organisers have already announced that they want to change EFUF’s concept in a way to start preparing it based on inputs from potential participants and by making EFUF less expensive, especially for students.

Silvija Krajter Croatian Forest Research

Institute

IVANA GUDURIĆ IS EUROPEAN YOUNG URBAN FORESTER OF THE YEAR 2012!

First competition for European Young Urban forester of the Year took place this year in Leipzig during European Forum on Urban Forestry (EFUF), 8-12 May. The goal of the competition is to give praise to outstanding young persons working in the field of urban forestry. The winner is Ivana Gudurić, European Forestry master student from Belgrade (Serbia). She studied landscape architecture in Belgrade, where she graduated in 2008, guided by her proud mentor, associate professor Jelena Tomićević. Her diploma thesis with the title “Comparative analysis of management of urban forestry in Belgrade and Freiburg” was awarded in 2009 as the best graduation thesis of Belgrade University by Belgrade Chamber of Commerce. Beside this, Ivana took part in few projects and activities related to urban forests. Currently, Ivana studies in Vienna, works as an intern at EFICEEC office and soon will finish her master thesis. The winner got diploma, 200 € and annual on-line subscription to journal Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. Congratulations, Ivana! FORCITY team is glad to have you on board.

It was our great pleasure to spend 16 days, from 29th of July until 13th of August, in the 6th ECPR Summer School in Methods and Techniques. ECPR (European Consortium for Political Research) is an independent scientific association which supports and encourages the training, research and cross-national cooperation of political scientists throughout Europe and beyond. Cooperation is

conducted through the program of highly-regarded conferences and methods schools, funding opportunities and its prestigious publishing portfolio. The ECPR provides high quality up-to-date trainings in a broad range of methods and approaches of the social sciences, trying to deal with the methods that are salient for political science and neighboring disciplines. What is more, ECPR addresses all stages of research covering both quantitative and qualitative designs together with positivist and interpretative perspectives. The Summer School comprised an intensive program of seminars and lab session and included introductory and main courses. We decided to attend Introduction to R as our introductory course. Beside this one, there were courses such as: Research designs, Inferential statistics, Introduction to SPSS, which thanks to FOPER teachers Brandon Anthony, Špela Pezdevšek Malovrh, Gloria Dominguez, Errol Meidinger and John Bliss we already knew. Introduction to R was held by professor Andrej Blejec and teaching assistant Luka Kronegger from University of Ljubljana. We learned some basics about this statistical

program and also got an idea of how it can help us in our forthcoming research. Regarding main courses, it was very hard to choose one. Courses consisted of five to ten teaching days. Each course had three teaching hours and three to four additional work hours per day. There was a long list of courses, such as Multiple regression analysis, Quantitative text analysis, Methodologies of case studies, Mixed methods designs, Political game theory, Time series analysis, Introduction to social network analysis, Process tracing, Qualitative political research, Participatory and deliberative methods, Political ethnography etc. We decided to choose ten days courses. Amila took the course on Quantitative research analysis that was held by two professors: William Lowe from University of Mannheim and Kenneth Benoit from London School of Economics and Political Science, as well as teaching assistants Denise Traber from University of Geneva. Todora took the course on Introduction to social network analysis, which was held by Professor Vladimir Batagelj from University of Ljubljana and teaching assistant Anja Žnidaršič also from University of Ljubljana. Dženan choose the course on Multiple regression analysis that was held by professor Bernhard Kittel from University of Oldenburg and two teaching assistants Michal Kotnarowski from University of Warsaw and Mattia Guidi from European University Institute Fiesole. We choose these courses, because these methods are not well known in FOPER research community and we needed to improve our knowledge since we need these methods for our Master thesis. In addition, ECPR organized really interesting and useful events. “Appetizer Monday mix” and “Dessert Monday mix”. Those were two great opportunities for us to attend up to three courses, as addition to those that we already had chosen. We used that chance and attended the courses that we would like to attend next time. Beside this, another interesting event was poster session “Get back together reception and awards” where every participant had a chance to make poster on their work in progress. Posters with the most votes got some prizes as well as feedback from the other participants. Also, ECPR participants were welcomed by the Rector of the University of Ljubljana, Professor Radovan Stanislav Pejovnik. For those who were searching for jobs, a round table on “How to get a job in Academia” was held by Professor Kenneth Benoit from London School of Economics, Professor Katrin Niglas from University of Tallinn, Professor Bruno Cautres from CNRS & Sciences Po Paris, and Professor Bernhard Kittel from University of Oldenburg. This was opportunity to learn about useful “tricks of the trade” and to increase the chance of survival in the “academia jungle”. Besides learning process, there were lots of fun and informal events where we met young colleagues from all over the World. Now, a few months later, we are still in contact with those colleagues. Besides precious knowledge we gained, we met new people and that is priceless benefit from such occasions.

ECPR Summer School FOPER II Master Students: Amila Brajić, Todora Grašić and Dženan Bećirović attended this research methods course thanks to FOPER financial support.

Registration Process

Todora with her colleagues

Karaoke Night

Amila Brajić, FOPER MSc student Todora Grašić, FOPER MSc student

Dženan Bećirović, FOPER MSc student

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Yes It Is Possible - When You Have a Vision “It Takes an Endless Amount of History

to Make Even a Little Tradition “ - Henry James

Therefore, FOPER MSc students and teachers, as one, decided to donate a laptop to this Community. We decided to make this ceremony in FOPER classroom at Faculty of Forestry in Belgrade at the time when Prof. Margaret was with us on our Master Thesis Course. We decided this in order to show her how much she has influenced us with her inexhaustible enthusiasm and energy. We wanted to show her that we learned that the ability of sharing with others is a valuable virtue of living. A virtue that makes us complete, not only in science but in life, as well. We did a lot of good and positive things together. We improved our knowledge, both students and teachers. We build a strong regional community. But the feeling all of us bring from this place and from these people will stay as valuable memory for all of us. And, yes – everything is possible when you have a vision! But the level of possibility is bigger when you have someone to share your vision with.

FOPER Master Students met these people during the field trip, which was organized as part of the Course on Small Scale Forestry and Joint Forest Management led by Prof. Ulrich Schraml. We had a task to interview current members of the Board in order to make a case study on how these types of joint ownership of forests actually works. During our meeting with community, we were so impressed with the amount of pride, respect and life simplicity of these people. Something is valuable for them and they simple choose to protect it against the burden of time. On our question: What motivates you to exist? They response almost in one voice: “Ancestors! We are very grateful for what they did for us. It would be a shame to destroy our inheritance!” Throughout our conversations, we realized that very few people have heard about their existence. Reason is that organization is a non-profit, and therefore they have limited funds for self-promotion. They do not have computer and official web site. Then, our sense for recognition of positive examples from the Region arose. We wanted for people hear about them by spreading their success story, which should serve as an example for others. And somehow, we found a parallel between their vision and the vision of FOPER. Both communities consist of enthusiastic people with a vision to do something different by respecting heritage and wanting to sustain it.

When education was the privilege of very few, they were respected member of societies, people of the word and wisdom, the people from whom you search for advice. In a word - they were the true spirit of the society. Usually, those people were elders, priests and priestess as well as teachers. Having in mind these facts, this story is nothing unusual. But what makes this example different from others is the lasting sparkle of one man’s vision that continues to motivate residents of Beočin, a small place near Novi Sad, capital city of Vojvodina Province of Serbia. Their story began in 1903. Two dukes of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, on their departure from Beočin, announced sale of their 293 hectares of forest. A pastoral teacher decided to mobilize dwellers of Beočin to buy this land. It took a little time to persuade them – but finally they decided mortgage all of their property in order to purchase the forest. Time has shown that their risk paid-off. The next step was even harder – the teacher had to write a Statute for the Community of Forest Co-owners. Before the ideas of sustainable forest management, he created a Statute that regulates the use and management of the forest. The Community, as written in Article 8, is based upon collective work, decision-making and joint responsibility. Program of activities is the democratically expressed will of the members of the Association. Administrative body of Community is democratically elected and all of the members have the opportunity to be president, on the Board and all of the members are in Community` Assembly. Co-ownership in this Community is based on so-called “ideal parts of forests”. This means that co-owners of the forest do not know the borders of their parcels, but they have the right for equal amounts of the annually harvest. Furthermore, the current owners of the forest are descendants of the people that bought it at the beginning of XX century. This means that selling the land to someone who does not belong to the community is forbidden by the Statute.

FOPER MSc students at the visit of Community forests in Beočin together with Prof. Schraml and Nenad Petrović, coordinator of FOPER MSc program

Names of the co-owners from the year 1903 en-graved at the wall of Community Building

Senka Mutabdžija, FOPER MSc student

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9

FOPER Internships

SNV—Office in Skopje

FOPER

Aneta Blaževska Biljana Stojanova Vaska Nedanovska

With the launching of the FOPER 2 project, we have created an Internship component with unique goal: to help its Master and Doctoral Students to gain professional skills in their fields of work and strengthen the professional network in the Region and Europe. The Internship component of FOPER give opportunity to integrate career related experience into an undergraduate education by participating in planned, supervised work. The main idea for starting this component was to contribute to the student’s personal and professional devel-opment through challenging work assignments and career related experiences that comple-ment what is learned in the classroom. One of the main goals of the Internship Program is to give the opportunity to the students without working experience to act and fulfill tasks in a professional environment. With the work so far, the past interns gain great knowledge and enhance their capacities to implement the theoretical knowledge gained at the FOPER Courses in a practical manner, learned how to deal with stress at work and respect deadlines and how to prioritize tasks. This possibility expanded their contact network and strengthened their CV’s. In continuation of this text, we are sharing the view of several Interns, how the internship helped in improving the professional knowledge and enhanced skills, and how the Internship helped in finding future carrier and planning future steps. What follows are impressions and experiences of some of the both PhD and MSc students who took part in FOPER Internship pro-gram.

Jana Jovanovska, FOPER Internship Coordinator

Vaska Nedanovska, Biljana Stojanova, Aneta Blaževska - FOPER MSc Students: “We would like to express our gratitude to the SNV (Holland Development Organization) that gave us an opportunity to start with FOPER II Internship Program and spend two weeks in an environment that is highly professional and dedicated to work. Intern-ship was first step in our career through which we learnt a lot. We gained valuable experience that would help us in our further studies. In a warm and professional atmosphere we were acquainted with the ac-tivities of the Organization in the field of Forestry, Department of Re-newable Energy as well as projects implemented in cooperation with the National Association of Private Forest Owners (NAPFO).”

Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and Water Management

Maja Srndović

FOPER

Maja Srndović, FOPER MSc Student: “Thanks to the Internship pro-gram, I spent almost one year in Directorate for Forests at the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and Water Management of Republic of Serbia. I had an opportunity to work with professionals that have brought very recent changes in the country`s forestry sector through legislation improvements and realization of many projects in this sector. I was introduced with the way how Directorate functions by participat-ing in the allocation of the yearly Ministry`s funds planned for research and education projects and other administrative tasks. Recently, I had finished my one-month internship in Austrian Federal Forests in Vi-enna. It helped me to clearly see the differences in forest management between Serbia and Austria which will be of great importance for my MSc thesis. Due to the valuable outcomes that FOPER internship pro-gram had given to me, I can say that this opportunity had improved my professional knowledge and skills, expand my professional network and directed my carrier toward improvement of my potentials in the best way possible.”

ETH Zurich

FOPER

Amila Brajić Senka Mutabdžija

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FOPER Internships

Senka Mutabdžija, FOPER MSc student: “Since you have an opportunity to read the arti-cle about the Amila`s and mine impressions from the internship at ETH in Zürich, I will express only the general outcomes of this internship which, for certain, improved mine pro-fessional capabilities. Although the duration of the internship was quite short (21-27th of February 2011) I perceive this specific opportunity as one of the most significant ones that FOPER gave to me. Not so in the domain of developing specific skills which should en-hance my chances to get a good working position but more in something that scientists called a “paradigm shift”. I experienced this internship as a turning point in my way of thinking and after all – maturation of a young researcher. I had the privilege to hear about the current trends in field of forest policy and economics. Personally, I believe that there is nothing more valuable than having an updated information about the future (and current) directions in your field of interest. Off course, another important outcome of this internship is meeting new people. For example, this was the first time that I got the chance to “pace the forces” with the European students. It gave me a wind in the sails because I realized that my level of knowledge and experience is at the same level as at the MSc students abroad. As a conclusion – this internship had proved me that social networking is very im-portant in science. I would dare to say that it is one of the most important things.”

Students impressions and experiences

Marina Miovska, FOPER I Alumni: Finishing the third se-mester of FOPER MSc Program at the summer 2008, I re-turned back to Macedonia planning to spend the fourth semes-ter of MSc studies to the finalization of my MSc thesis. And since one part of my thesis was connected to the one of the FOPER I research projects, with the strong support of Prof. Makedonka Stojanovska, one of my MSc thesis mentors, I had been started my internship at the Faculty of Forestry in Skopje. At the beginning of my internship, I was responsible for all everyday activities at the office, up to some point when I started to assist in the teaching process and students’ examination

mainly at the course of Forestry economics. After my MSc thesis defense, I had continued to assist at the Faculty whereas most of the time I was involved in some external projects and scientific studies, as a way of obtaining my financial support, afterwards. About almost two years spent at the Faculty, the coordinator of FOPER II, Prof. Dr. Margaret Shannon es-tablished the first official internship agreement with the Macedonian Ministry of agricul-ture, forestry and water management during one of the visits of Skopje, in May 2010.

During the three months that my colleague Vladimir Stojanovski and I had spent within the Department of forestry and hunting, our task was to get familiar with the work of all four units of the Department. Apart from the three-month agreement, with the efforts made by the responsible people from the Department for my official employment at the Ministry, my internship was ex-tended up to one year. I continued to obtain more insight in the work of certain Department units, but I was mainly responsible for some of the international communications and projects. After one year, in July 201, I made a decision to move from the Min-istry. As a result of established cooperation for providing an internship opportunity to the FOPER students, between FOPER II and CEPF liaison office in Brussels, my application was selected among the internship applications sent. For the period of six months (September 2011 - March 2012) at the CEPF office in Brussels, I was involved in a various activities related to private forests and especially the family forestry issues, as part of the office work. Taking part in a various conferences, workshops and forestry expert groups meetings I was able to get a close insight into the work of forestry stakeholders and international activities performed within the European Union. Concerning the level, the time frame and the working environment related to my interna-tional internship engagement I would like say that this was an excellent experience for me! Moreover - the past few years were of great importance in gaining experience and knowledge and improving my CV. Until now, this was of huge significance for me but what is more - I am sure that it will have a huge influence on my further work and future decisions to be made. As an out-come of my effort so far – I obtained a recommendation for a PhD Scholarship from the FONASO Program Secretariat, in Janu-ary 2012.

Being in the City of Science!

Impressions from our educational visit

In XVIII and XIX century, young people from countries of SEE had to travel to central Europe in order to get a better education and acquire European manners. The most frequent destinations were Vienna, Trieste, Paris and Zurich. When they arrived, confused after the long journey and glittering pictures that were rapidly revolving in front of their eyes, Maecenas waited for them to begin with the slow introduction into the secrets of science, medicine, art and philosophy of living. Two centuries later, with the same thrill, two girls, thanks to the Prof. em. Franz Schmithüsen, Prof. Dr. Margaret Shannon, Prof. Dr. Mersudin Avdibegović and

FOPER had the privilege to enter to the amazing city of Zurich, with equally amazing second name– Science City. Even though this name refers only to the newly established campus of ETH, when you are entering the city of Einstein, Röntgen, Prelog etc. you simply cannot resist to the impression that there it is - the City of Science. Our educational visit started on the 21st of February 2011 when Prof. Schmithüsen, who had with his tremendous knowledge, experience and wise advice introduced us to forest policy and legislation in November 2010, met us in Zurich. His first question: “What are you planning to do for your Master thesis and how?” was difficult and complex enough to attract our full attention in the next five days. Prof. Schmithüsen had invited us to visit him in Zurich in order to develop our research abilities further. On Tuesday 22nd of February, he introduced us to the current professors and researchers at the two Chairs of the ETH: Chair of Environmental Policy and Economics and Chair of Environmental Sciences, Natural and Social Interface Group. There we had a short meeting with the Prof. Dr. Stefanie Engel, chairperson of Chair of Environmental Policy and Economics, who introduced to us her research areas and goals of the Chair. Prof. Engel gave us brief information about the PES mechanisms as one of her topics of interests. We introduced FOPER Master Program to her and spoke a little bit about our experiences and wonderful opportunities that

FOPER had offered to us. After the meeting with Prof. Engel, we met Dr. Christian Hirschi, senior researcher at this Chair. We had very long discussion with him about our MSc thesis for which he showed great interest and for FOPER Master Program as well. After Dr. Hirschi, we visited Prof. Dr. Wili Zimmermann who is deputy chairman at the same Chair and we had a very fruitful discussion about the forest related legislation and differences among the Switzerland and SEE region` regulations. Next day we went astray in Zurich! It was so funny and unpredictable, since we received detailed information from Prof. Schmithüsen, but anyway we succeeded to get lost and be 15 minutes late for our meeting. Despite that, Dr. Michael Stauffacher from the Chair of Environmental Sciences, Natural and Social Interface Group waited for us very patiently and made a joke about it. He introduced to us main concept of their work – Relation to the Human-Environment Systems

Framework and introduced to us main research projects of the Group. Also, we had opportunity to meet two PhD students that explained to us their methodology of work – they are doing PhD through the work in research projects similar to FOPER. What we had found especially useful is that Prof. Stauffacher took us to the Case study course lectures for MSc students where we were pleasantly surprised with the fact that ETH MSc students are learning same things we are in FOPER! It was really motivating due to the fact that students in Europe are learning the same things in absolutely the same way like we do. We even participated in their discussions and they had asked us about our educational background. We were so proud while we were explaining to them about our MSc program. Next day, we had an intensive work day on our MSc proposals until we met Alfred W. Kammerhofer, head of the Forest and Timber Industry section of the Federal ministry for Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications. We had an opportunity to learn about the organization of Switzerland as well as the organization of the Swiss forestry sector. Also, he gave us very useful suggestions about our research topics. We found his advice especially useful, since he is employed in the State administration and definitely had a lot of comments regarding the clarity and practical implementation of our MSc thesis. We complied with his suggestions and continued with preparation for discussion with Prof.

Schmithüsen. Our discussion was very long and constructive with a lot of applicable advice for our future research as well as our life. He gave us literature that we will use in our work and helped us in creating a structure for our MSc thesis by provoking our minds with lot of questions and comments. After the hard work, we went to the ETH campus “Science City” which is in Professor`s neighborhood. He explained to us the structure and organization of ETH and since he was directly involved in the project of establishing the new ETH campus, he told us a lot of very interesting details about it. For example, since the campus is located at the view point of the Zurich and the forest is right behind it, architects paid a lot of attention in planning buildings to be lower than the height of the trees behind them. The main purpose of this was not to obstruct the view of forest from each point of the city. Another important and rather interesting thing is that all the work related to the building and designing of the campus was done by the ETH departments. For example, the entire campus has self-

sufficient system for heating, including zero emission system through usage of soil for seasonal heat storage. We were so impressed. It is hard for us to say in one sentence or even a paragraph what we had learned from this visit. Lots of things and memories always arise when we speak about it. Let`s just say that this 7 days that we spent with Prof. Schmithüsen was an honor for us and that we had learned a lot about science, art and philosophy of living. It was a pleasure to speak with him even about the regular things in life. We are sure that in a way, Prof. Schmithüsen was our Maecenas in that 7 days and we are sure that memories will serve as a source for good ideas, enthusiasm and wisdom in our work as well as in our life.

Senka Mutabdžija, FOPER MSc student Amila Brajić, FOPER MSc student

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One of the many opportunities that FOPER MSc Program has offered to me was my internship at the Wood Sector of USAID- Sida's FIRMA Project. The Fostering Interventions for Rapid Market Advancement (FIRMA) project, sponsored by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida) is a five-year project that began in September 2009 with the aim to support sustainable economic growth, employment expansion and increase household incomes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. My internship in this company was from 1st of August until the 26th of August, 2011. During this time, the USAID-Sida FIRMA Project became a major sponsor of the Sarajevo Green Design Festival 2011 (SGDF) and the Wood Industry Team decided to include me in the development of SGDF Action Plan. While I was working on a few steps for developing an Action plan and all other FIRMA`s activities, it was necessary to make lists of stakeholders, all participants and their main activities at the Festival and then to enter this data into the FIRMA Projects database (PAD). This was my task as well as provision of

evaluation letters for participants at FIRMA activities, too. I participated in three important meetings. One of them was the monthly office meeting, where the sectors` team leaders had to report to the Project Chief about their activities and results during the month. The second meeting was with leading B-H furniture producers that wanted to present their products at international fairs with support from the FIRMA project. The third meeting was with regional development agencies (REZ and SERDA) where they presented their activities and plans in order to see how the FIRMA project could support their work and future plans. Another activity, in which I was included, was preparation of “Approved and authorized Exporter Status” seminar. My task was to prepare the promotional materials, take care about participants’ registration and to provide certificates for those who successfully completed this seminar. Finally, I was included in the preparation and organization of the First Regional Conference for Sustainable Tourism Development, with a large list of tasks: from composing a participant list and sending invitations through organizing a reception for the local press and participants to taking minutes from each discussion of presentations. This internship was very significant and productive for me. I want to express my deep gratitude to Prof. Dr Mersudin Avdibegović and Mr. Lukša Šoljan, who offered me this unique opportunity to gain new professional experience and knowledge.

FOPER Internships

SNV—Office in Skopje

FOPER

Aneta Blaževska Biljana Stojanova Vaska Nedanovska

ETH Zurich

FOPER

Amila Brajić Senka Mutabdžija

USAID-SIDA FIRMA Project, Sarajevo

FOPER

Naida Kadušić

CEPF - Office in Brussels

FOPER

Marina Miovska

Institute for Lowland Forestry and Environment, Novi Sad, Serbia

FOPER

Todora Grašić Vladimir Nikolić Maja Srndović

Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and Water Management

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FOPER Internships

Students impressions and experiences

List of all students and internship institutions

FOPER toward Europe!

This time, we were heading north

From the 13th to the 16th of September, FOPER II M.Sc. students were at their second, international excursion, heading north and doing some, rather extreme sports! Yes, it is possible to do in four days! In the serene daybreak of a September morning, we were waving goodbye to Belgrade and at the same time planning how to fully enjoy in the next four days. Reason for this was easy to find in the purpose of this excursion – getting familiar with the management activities and beauties of three National Parks, where two of them are known world-wide, with long traditions, and one is only two years old but not less valuable and important than other two. Firstly, we visited Slovenia and our colleagues at Department for Forestry and Renewable Natural Resources of Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana. There, Mr. Jurij Beguš from Public forest service of Slovenia had presented us the main characteristics and challenges of Slovene forestry sector. After the meeting, we enjoyed a long walk through the city of Ljubljana and surprisingly refreshing weather. Then, we continued our journey to Kranj, with the plan to visit Lake Bled the next day.

Is there anything better then grasping the first sun beams of September morning, two meters away from the lake with close friends? After that experience from the Lake Bled I can tell you – No, there is nothing better then that! But that day offers even more – true Slovene symphony of water, forests, glaciers and- mythology! Many secrets and stories are hidden in such a small country. Two that we heard from employees of Triglav National Park, Iztok Butinar and Mojca Vrhunc, were enough to finally come to the conclusion that Slovenian people are really special and proud of their tradition. Story of four brave friends who were first that conquered Triglav Peak without any climbing equipment; in wooden shoes at the year 1778 makes this mountain a preeminent symbol of the Slovene nation. Symbolically, there is a monument of these four men at the base of the Juvenile Alps and is 2864 cm, since height of Triglav is 2864 m. But, as I already mentioned we were doing some extreme sports. At least we tried, but for

those who have any fear of heights – riding the cableway to the 1535 m of height above sea level was really something! Another story related to this region is a tale of Zlatorog, a mythical golden-horned chamois. The tale is about a brave hunter who fell in love with a girl and wanted to win her heart by bringing her a beautiful flower from the mountain. The only way to find that flower was by killing Zlatorog. He did this and from the blood of the animal beautiful and healing flowers sprung up. Suddenly, Zlatorog ate the flowers that revived him and the young hunter died

blinded by the bliss of golden horns. Luckily, we hear that story in the administrative building of NP Triglav, far away from the mountain, so our boys did not try to search for Zlatorog. We also had presentations about the activities in the NP, its main management goals, and characteristics of the management activities. Making new friendships with our Slovenian friends Mojca, Iztok and Tomaž from NP Triglav, we continued our journey in search for natural beauties. The third day was the most extreme one! We went rafting on the Una River at the “Una” NP. The 14 km of paddling was really something for our muscles. And we succeeded in it! Again, team work of FOPER team showed its full potential, this time with the aim of having excellent time. With the help of skippers,

some of us jumped from the rocks and a 10 meter high railroad bridge. The majority were there to applaud. Unfortunately, there is no picture from the mastering the river, but smiley faces after the rafting tells everything – we

simply enjoyed Wild! And for the end, we search for the cure of muscle inflammation in the tranquility and harmony of NP Plitvice and perfectly distributed sequences of water, wriggling paths and tree shades. It was a perfect cure for our body and soul!

Once more, we had a good time with our FOPER colleagues and professors, making new friendships and reconnecting with truly magnificent nature of SEE region!

Senka Mutabdžija, FOPER MSc student Photos are made by Bruno Marić,

FOPER MSc student 13

Letter of the Best FOPER II MSc student

When I was asked to write something about what I gained from FOPER, I was thinking: “No, problem! Sure! It will be a short list” Then I started to list all things I’ve received. I can tell you about what I’ve learned during this year and a half. I’ve gotten new knowledge about different aspects of Forestry, but you know that. It is not a question! But what else have I gained? I remember my arrival in Sarajevo. A young teaching assistant from the Faculty of Forestry waited for us to arrive at the bus station. We set off in his car to Igman Mountain. After two days all FOPER II Master Students arrived and I was wondering what they will be like. It was very obvious that we were so different, from different countries, with different backgrounds, wishes and ideas. Then the course Principles of Science started in Sarajevo. Professor Errol was talking about validities, deductive and inductive research, reliabilities… To be honest - I barely understood a word he was saying! And I felt so lost, along with the other students. Our English was poor, we did not have any previous knowledge about topic, and the teaching approach was different. “My God! What should I do? What am I doing here?” screamed in my head. But over time - that feeling left, gradually. A year and a half passed. We had our misunderstandings, our moments of happiness, we were angry at each other, we adored each other. Sometimes we felt lost, sometimes we felt like we were in the right place. After year and a half, when I started writing this, I realized what I have now.

I have colleagues that can understand what I am talking about. I have friends in each of the FOPER countries. I have my network of people; people I can rely on. This is incredible and priceless. Now I can without doubt say that I have a feeling

of belonging somewhere. I am a part of a bigger picture and that picture is FOPER Community. I’ve learned to be strong, to work under the pressure. I’ve learned when a job had to be done, no matter what. I know how to bear responsibility, how to be precise, to be accurate. I found out that sometimes days are not enough, that nights need to be sacrificed. But what I got from this hard work is respect, respect of my friends, my colleagues and my professors eventually. And as Sinatra said I’ve learned “to stand tall” and I’ve learned to say the words that are “not from one who kneels”. And I can just hope, and try very hard that one day, with the knowledge I gained, I will have an opportunity to make a change together with my friends and colleagues.

FOPER II MSc Photo–Retrospective

This is how we started...

This is how we enjoyed together at ones of our trips...

This is how we can be practical—We did not have any felt-tip pens so we decided to use some grass, cigarette ash, dandelions … and we created a poster! Together!

This is how we helped in afforestation of Belgrade This was our way to

say big “Thank you“ to Margaret by sing-ing “My way”. Bit clumsy , indeed :)

And…this is our final toast! We wished to be successful and to meet again in five years.

Definitely - you can guess who is on the picture :)

Photos made by Bruno Marić, FOPER MSc student

Todora Grašić Serbia

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Congratulations Danko!

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Good news from the member of FOPER I Alumni

Dear colleagues and friends, I am very glad to share with all of you some information on recent developments in my career. After fairly long and demanding selection procedure, I was selected for the position of Expert (Sustainable

Consumption and Production, Sustainable Resource Use) at the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) in Szentendre, Hungary. April the 16th was my first working day. Firstly, I will say few words about the institution. The REC is an independent international organization established in 1990 by Hungary, USA and European Commission. It is legally based on a charter with over 30 signa-tories, having a mission to assist in solving environmental problems by promoting cooperation among NGOs, private institutions, governments, business and other environmental stakeholders, and by promoting free exchange of information and public participation in environmental deci-sion making. Through activities such as training programs, pilot projects, environmental assessments, analytical studies, educational packages and grants, the REC seeks to support countries in various political and economic situations. The REC also acts as a bridge for transferring re-gional experience to countries throughout the world. As you can see, scope of activities is very wide, which makes REC very dynamic and interesting place for work. As I found out later, my FOPER studies and the entire story behind it were one of important aspects that made me a very interesting candidate to members of selection commission. After several rounds of interviews, I convinced them that my knowledge and experience is right for the job. So far, my impressions are excel-lent. Finally, my key message would be - you should never miss a chance to challenge yourself and to try something new! One who dares - wins! I will give all my best to continue to be useful and productive member of our FOPER family. From now on, I will be available at the contact details below. I am looking forward to our fruitful cooperation in the future.

Danko Aleksic, MSc. Expert

Sustainable Consumption and Production, Sustainable Resource Use THE REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER

FOR CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE (REC) Ady Endre ut 9-11., 2000 Szentendre, Hungary

Tel.: +36 26 504-000 ext. 313 Fax: +36 26 311-294

e-mail: daleksic@rec.org Skype: danko.aleksic

Dear friends and colleagues,

We are inviting you cordially to join us to IUFRO conference “Forests for cities - forests for people

Perspectives on urban forest governance” To be held in Zagreb, Croatia, 27-28 September 2012

The conference is organized in collaboration between Croatian Forest Research

Institute, FOPER network (EFI) and IUFRO division on urban forestry. We are especially proud that FORCITY project, developed as capacity building

project under the auspices of FOPER and EFI, sprouted such an event. For further information, please visit http://www.sumins.hr:8080/IUFRO2012/

Or give us an e-mail on IUFRO2012-Zagreb@sumins.hr

See you in Zagreb!

Titles of FOPER students` MSc thesis and commission Defences at Faculty of Forestry, University of Belgrade

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Country Name and surname Title of the MSc thesis Commission

Dates for the Master`s theses defences

1.

Aneta Blaževska Analysis of the organizational structure in P.E Macedonian forest from an aspect of

strategic management planning

Dr. Roderich von Detten - mentor, Prof. dr Makedonka Stojanovska, Prof. dr Dragan Nonić

12th of July, 2012

2.

Biljana Stojanova Perception of visitors toward Urban Forests in Skopje: Case study Park Forest Vodno

Prof. dr. Maureen H. McDonough- mentor, Prof. dr Makedonka Stojanovska, Prof. dr Jelena Tomićević

3.

Dragan Jankov Socioeconomic preconditions for biomass production in private forests in Serbia

Doc. dr. Stjepan Posavec - mentor, Prof. Dr Margaret Shannon, Prof. dr.Milan Medarević

4.

Jana Jovanovska Factors That Impede Forest Strategy Implementation in Republic of Macedonia

Prof. dr Gerard Buttoud - mentor, Prof. dr Makedonka Stojanovska, Dr. Leonidha Peri

12th of July, 2012

5.

Maja Srndović State Forest Management Enterprises in Serbia: Organization and Management

Analysis

Dr. Roderich von Detten - mentor, Doc. dr.. Stjepan Posavec, Prof. dr Dragan Nonić

12th of July, 2012

6.

Marijana Vukotić Factors influencing forest policy change in Republic of Srpska

Prof. dr Bas Arts - mentor, Prof. dr Mersudin Avdibegović, Prof. dr Milan Medarević

7.

Marta Curman Factors Influencing the Willingness of

Private Forest Owners to Produce Wood Biomass Energy in Croatia

Doc. dr. Stjepan Posavec - mentor, Prof. dr Margaret Shannon, Prof. dr Milan Medarević

8.

Todora Grašić Policy Networks in Serbia in the Context of Forest Governance

Prof. Dr Margaret Shannon - mentor, Prof. dr Mersudin Avdibegović, Prof. dr Milan Medarević

9.

Vaska Nedanovska Market potential for non-timber forest product in the Republic of Macedonia

Prof. dr Davide Pettenella - mentor, Prof. Dr. Makedonka Stojanovska, Doc. dr. Stjepan Posavec

13th of July, 2012

10.

Vladimir Nikolić Relevance of behavioural norms in hunting sector in Serbia

Prof. dr Ulrich Scraml - mentor, Prof. dr Mersudin Avdibegović, Prof. dr Milan Medarević

 

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Titles of FOPER students` MSc thesis and commission Defences at Faculty of Forestry, University of Sarajevo

Country Name and surname Title of the MSc thesis Commission

Dates for the Master`s theses defences

1.

Adnana Hasanović

The concept of Governance in natural recourses management - application of good

governance indicators in process of designation of protected area “Konjuh”

Prof. Dr. Laura Secco – mentor, Prof. dr. Mersudin Avdibegović, Doc. dr. Sabina

Delić

2.

Ajla Mehmedović Sustainable tourism as an element of rural

development in Bjelašnica Mountain

Prof. dr. Jelena Tomićević - mentor, Prof. dr. Andrea Finger-Stich, Prof. dr. Mersudin

Avdibegović

3.

Alisa Polić Public involvement in decision-making for

management of protected area “Vrelo Bosne”

Prof. Dr. Cecil Konijnendijk – mentor, Prof. dr. Mersudin Avdibegović, Prof. dr.

Stjepan Posavec

4.

Alketa Gjoka Implications of decentralization on forestry

institutions in Albania

Prof. Dr. Gerard Buttoud – mentor, Prof. Dr. Mersudin Avdibegović, Prof. Dr.

Leonidha Peri

5.

Amila Brajić Governance principles in forest legislation in

the Federation of B-H

Prof. dr. Mersudin Avdibegović – mentor, Prof. dr. Franz Schmithüsen, Doc. dr.

Sabina Delić

6.

Bruno Marić Relationships between key forest policy

actors in the Federation of B-H in the context of forest governance

Prof. dr. Mersudin Avdibegović – mentor, Prof. dr. Margaret Shannon, Doc. dr.

Sabina Delić

7.

Dženan Bećirović Forest policy and law as a component of

governance in forest sector of the Federation of B-H

Prof. dr. Mersudin Avdibegović – mentor, Prof. dr. Margaret Shannon, Doc. dr.

Sabina Delić

8.

Ines Cilka Assessment of implementation of the National Strategy for development of

Forestry and Pastures sector in Albania

Prof. dr. Gerard Buttoud – mentor, Prof. dr. Mersudin Avdibegović, Prof. dr. Vasillaq

Mine

9.

Naida Kadušić Branding of urban forest Vrelo Bosne by

Cantonal Public Institution “Protected Natural Areas of Canton Sarajevo”

Prof. Dr. Cecil Konijnendijk – mentor, Prof. Dr. Mersudin Avdibegović, Prof. Dr.

Makedonka Stojanovska

10.

Senka Mutabdžija Cross-sectoral perception of forest

governance concept in the Federation of B-H Prof. dr. Mersudin Avdibegović – mentor, Prof. dr. Saleem Ali, Doc. dr. Sabina Delić