Support of the state forest service to private forest ownership - comparative analysis in Serbia and Slovenia.
Management of private forests, which occupy roughly 50% of all Serbian forests, is aggravated by huge number of private forest owners (about half a million), small average-sized forest estates (0,26 ha), huge number of cadastral parcels which form individual estates (3.900.000) and fragmentation of those parcels. The transition process in Serbia is followed by legislative and organizational reforms, improvements of public administration and institutional strengthening, changes of forest ownership as a result of denationalization process, but also by new management approach and relations between the state governance and private forest owners. Current problems in Serbian private forestry include both inadequate attitude of the State towards private forests and an inadequate treatment of the property by the owners. Due to this, the public administration is expected to offer different measures to support private forest owners in order to use the potentials of the private forests and to stimulate development of the rural areas. This paper deals with comparative analysis of the state forest service support to private forest ownership in Serbia and Slovenia.