Balkans Oak Coppice Between Conversion Or Degradation, By Haki Kola

Transcript

Especially public coppice forest is out of management in the last decades, maybe waiting the day of conversion. In an increasingly urban, fast paced world where we look more and more to sources outside our local area for our cultural and social identities the local coppice close to many of our communities can represent permanence, roots, solidity and social cohesion. People need it extremely for their every days needs. The reality on the forest situation, have shown that local people are confused about their local public and private forest , for example, believing that managing them for coppice products is ‘butchering forest’. In some cases it is banned by the forest law. Being under the explanations of the conversion, people is used to see an ongoing status quo to the oak coppice forest. People also perceive woodlands as static nature reserves museums that will somehow stay that way without management. What is the biggest threat to the survival of our small scattered local coppice forest? Lack of understanding how to manage, and lack of appreciation on the products used traditionally by the communities. Among others this mismanagement leads to woods not being valued and loved, open to threats such as illegal cutting. If people do not allow to manage legally their local woodlands, for the reasons of misunderstandings as for example forest service think their coppice management is damaging them, then woodlands may not be managed and can slip into illegal management and degradation.