Detailed information can be obtained here by downloading the documents:
The conference is supported by
More than 100 participants from 25 European countries and one guest from the US held their 30th anniversary meeting in Radlje ob Dravi in the North of Slovenia near the Austrian border. Radlje is the cradle of close-to-nature forest management and its nearby forest of the Pahernik foundation is one of the best examples of this approach, being managed by local foresters under support of the Department of Forestry of Biotechnical faculty in Ljubljana.
Pro Silva held the opening ceremony of this meeting at Radlje castle and was welcomed by the Major of Radlje Mag. Alan Bukovnik, also member of Pro Silva. An exhibition of the development of Close-to-Nature Forestry was opened and the founding members Bela Varga (Hungary) and Hubert Dolinšek (Slovenia) from 30 years ago were honoured.
At the conference with title “Forests for the future – from science to the people” international experts presented deeper insight into the relation between science and forestry practice. The State Secretaries of the Slovenian Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Mr. Damjan Stanonik and of the Slovenian Ministry of Culture dr. Tanja Kerševan Smokvina gave their welcome speeches and Prof. Klaus Puettmann from Oregon State University stated that “silviculture is the bridge to manage forest as ecosystems with functions that fulfil human needs: forest management to make happy people! “
A final podium and plenary discussion focused on the main urgent issues to improve the resilience of European forests. The following hybrid field workshops held during the following days in different nearby forest stands and in the city forest of Celje gave many inputs and impulses for the participants and also helped the social coherence of the European network.
At the annual board meeting of about 70 Pro Silva representatives and guests the president Eckart Senitza presented an overview about the activities of the last year, followed by the secretary Padraig O'Tuama, treasurer Anne Hürzeler and administrator Alexander Held.
Eckart stated that a sustainable development of Pro Silva need an incorporation of private forest owners, state forests, forest administration, scrientists in a balanced way. The main goals for the future are
Pro Silva needs more financial resources through donations, supporting members and via project involvement. There are several project proposals being developed within the netxt months.
In their meeting the ProSilva representatives approved the Radlje Declaration, which was allready published and will be translates to different languages for further distribution.
A press conference was held on Tuesday 10th September for Slovenian media and a further press release was published after the meeting.