#Forestation: A tangible measure of hope and progress in Western Balkans?

On Monday 26 February the leaders of the Western Balkans countries arrive in London for the annual European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) investment conference for the region. This year’s conference follows on from the latest European Union initiative (“A credible enlargement perspective for and enhanced EU engagement with the Western Balkans”) to address governance risks and failures that will need to be overcome prior to integration of the Western Balkan 6 (WB6) into the EU, writes Aleksandar Kovacevic.

This communication includes six flagship initiatives. It seems decisive and appears to be supported by the promise of financial resources. There is a healthy degree of criticism of progress to date on a range of matters including the rule of law, transparency, press freedom, and poverty. However, there appear to be few ‘lessons learned’ from the decades of discussion forums, advisory missions and technical assistance initiatives designed to introduce representative democracy to the region. This lack of innovation and originality risks repeating the mistakes of the past with same results.

Notably, there is no single, tangible, non-discretionary measure to distinguish between success or failure, improvement or regression. This, at the very least is what European tax payers should demand. An easily understood and measurable indicator of success, capable of directing interventions toward lasting improvements, should be established if further European funds, time and good-will are to be engaged.

The Western Balkans is one of, if not the best place, in Europe to grow forests. It is a reservoir of biodiversity. Its hydro power potential alone is capable of providing the rest of Europe with the flexibility it needs to maximise the use of intermittent renewable energy such as wind and solar. But, sadly it does not perform. To the contrary: the territories of the Western Balkans are exposed to floods, droughts and erosion as well as forest fires. European aid is simply consumed by the loss of value resulting from these continual events. And these events are not acts of God. These are the consequence of massive and persistent loss of forest cover that stems from illegal logging, energy poverty, insecure property rights, poor governance and the weak rule of law.

Forestation is simple; it is a singular and tangible measure of the quality of governance in the Western Balkans.

Between the 1830’s and the Great War, events that that marked the modernization of the Balkans correlated re-forestation. After the Great War, wartime devastation was counteracted by reforestation underpinning economic recovery and the struggle for representative democracy. The devastation of WWII continued for a period of more than ten years after the cessation of hostilities. Reforestation efforts from 1954 onwards marked the moderation of Tito’s political regime and the emergence of some improvements in the rule of law.

Governance patterns that arose during the 1990s created a long and sustained period of devastation with no change from the period of conflict in the 1990s through post-conflict period 2000s to today.

During the last 25 years, local governments have failed to ensure property rights, execute restitution, address energy poverty, clean the air in cities and villages, address female health issues, genuinely attend to international efforts to combat climate change, prevent flooding, increase productivity of land, make use of existing infrastructure (roads, railways, navigable channels), guarantee clean drinking water and sanitation, restore human security, provide jobs, opportunity and hope. The single measure of all these failures: deforestation.

If the European strategy for the Western Balkans is to promote human rights and democracy its successful implementation will be accompanied by a rapid, massive and measurable shift from deforestation to afforestation.

Aleksandar Kovacevic is a writer on energy policy in south-eastern Europe with the IEA, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and other institutions.

Share this article: