UNMIK
PROVISIONAL INSTITUTIONS OF SELF-GOVERNMENT INSTITUCIONET E PËRKOHSHMVE VETQEVERISËSE PRIVREMENE INSTITUCIJE SAMOUPRAVLJANJA
Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning Ministria e Ambientit dhe Planifikimit Hapësinor Ministarstvo Sredine i Prostornog Planiranja

        

4.

 Forestry
   

Forestland accounts for some 41 % of the total area of Kosovo or around 455.000 ha (this number varies depending on sources). 56% of this area is State property and 44 % is privately owned .(source  Ministry of Forestry, Agriculture and Rural Development)

Illegal woodcutting as well as agricultural, industrial and urban development is a cause of stress on these areas. Illegal woodcutting is a particularly acute problem. Poverty compounded by electric shortages are pushing the population during winter months to rely heavily on wood burning for heating.

Tree planting: from 1999 to 2002, 1988 ha as been planted. Species planted include: white pine (Pinus silvestris),black Pine (Pinus nigra) as well as oak trees .
   

Tree cutting: According to the Ministry of Forestry, Agriculture and Rural Development, in 2002 , 185,890 cubic meter of woods were cut for technical and fire wood purposes According to the same resource this amount is  30.195 cubic meter for technical cutting and  145.695 cub meter  for fire wood. For Illegal wood cutting doesn’t have a data but from some estimation it’s higher then legal cutting.

Figure14: Wood Cutting for 2000 and 2001 ==>

   
 

Forest Fires: Since the 1999 conflict, 2000 was by far the worst year in terms of forest fires; a total of 3,980 ha were affected. Figure 15 Shows the level of damage in some of the worst it municipalities

 

15: 2000 Forest Fire damage ==>