NPRPDSR Action Plan
Public suggestion concerning the Action Plan of the National Programme for Utilising the Wood Potential of the Slovak Republic
With the support of 1,561 citizen, in March 2014 WOLF submitted a public suggestion to the Ministry of Agriculture and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic (MPRV SR) concerning the document Action Plan of the National Programme for Utilising the Wood Potential of the Slovak Republic (NPRPDSR). The document targeted by the public suggestion includes measures that will have a negative impact on the protected areas of Slovakia and will increase the usage of wood biomass in Slovakia.
Extraction of wood biomass in the Poloniny National Park
The public suggestion was mainly aimed at the following proposals of the MPRV SR, as the submitter of the document:
- the reduction of the area of nature reserves (areas with the highest level of nature conservation) with the goal of wood extraction in these areas,
- the construction of new forest roads and wood extraction in national parks and protected areas with the 4th level of nature conservation,
- increasing the usage of wood for energy production purposes – as biomass,
- the creation of forest plantations (untable, short-lived monocultures) on forestry properties.
The submitter evaluated in the annexe no. 5.5 – Evaluation of the selected impacts on the natural environment, that the above mentioned measures will not have ANY impact on the elements of the natural environment and protected areas. Therefore, with the help of the citizens, WOLF had requested:
- to evaluate the submitted document as a strategic document from the perspective of impacts on the natural environment,
- to reevaluate the influence of the submitted materials on the natural environment, as documented in annexe no. 5.5 – Evaluation of the selected impacts on the natural environment.
Action Plan of the National Programme for Utilising the Wood Potential of the Slovak Republic
Subsequently, a representative of WOLF took part in the proceeding on contradictory views, the topic of which was the renegotiation of the public’s comments. Despite the fact that the negotiation did not remove the contradictory views, the ministry submitted the document to a government meeting and the government had approved it at its session on the 14 May 2014, under no. 225.