ILFE, one of the REFOCuS project partners organised a two-day workshop in Novi Sad on policy related issued affecting riparian forest management in the Biosphere Reserve Mura-Drava-Danube. The workshop took place at the ILFE’s premises on 16th and 17th of April 2019. Main focus of discussion were legal frameworks related to forest management and nature protection in Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary and Serbia and identification of common interests of stakeholders related to the area of the Biosphere Reserve. On the second day workshop with stakeholders took place to identify potential conflicts between forestry and nature conservation sectoral goals. The workshop ended with a field excursion in the special nature reserve Kovilj-Petrovaradin Marshes. The site was declared as an important Bird Area in 1989. Since 2004 it was included in the list of protected areas dependent on water and significant for the Danube basin (ICPDR) and since 2012 it is on the list of Ramsar sites. Forests in the site are managed by the public company Vojvodinašume that is in charge of management of all state forests in Vojvodina autonomous province.

(Photo: Marta Curman)