Sustainability transitions in transition countries: forest policy reforms in South‐eastern Europe

Abstract

AbstractThis article deals with forest policy reforms in South‐eastern Europe. It looks at recent developments in the forest sectors in three countries of the region, namely Slovenia, Croatia and Albania. Initial hopes that economic liberalization and democratization of these post‐socialist states would alleviate environmental and sustainability problems have proven too simplistic. Rather, the transition has opened up conflicts around environment and development that begin to show only after the end of the paternalistic and planning‐driven policy approaches of the socialist era. The article analyses the capacities and governance arrangements needed in post‐socialist countries to deal with sustainability issues. Although the major topics in forest policy reforms in transition countries – establishment of provisions for sustainable forest management, privatization of the forest sector, strategies to reconcile sustainable forest management and sustainable economic and human development – are similar, the case studies reveal very different approaches and problems in the transformation of the sector. No blueprint for sustainable governance of forests in transition states exists. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.