World Forestry Day or International Day of Forests, this year on the theme of “Forests and Health“, represents a global mission to revive and restore billions of hectares of forests. Again this year, the State Enterprise for Forest Management “Srbijašume“, being a socially responsible entity, has organized a ceremony marking the World Forestry Day in the entire territory it manages. The central manifestation was held in Košutnjak, where indigenous tree species were planted, of which the first seedlings were planted by acting director of SE “Srbijašume“ Igor Braunović and his employees.
On this occasion, the acting director addressed an audience in the following words:
“Today’s date is an opportunity to highlight the importance of forests and forestry nowadays. We are using World Forestry Day to appeal to citizens, to raise their awareness and show how important forests are, and what all forests bring with them. Forests are the lungs of the whole world, including Serbia, and it is our task to try to increase the forest area as much as possible. SE “Srbijašume“ is always of service to everyone who wishes to join our activities. SE “Srbijašume“ aims at 40 % of our territory to be covered with forests and we are slowly moving towards it. We will continue to appeal to citizens, to all those who have private properties, to various companies, associations and societies, because this is the only way for everyone to contribute to the reforestation of Serbia. We can proudly say that there are more and more interested people who respond to our activities, and we are here to accommodate everyone by giving them expert advice, technical support, and procurement or donation of seedlings.“
In addition to the employees, the event was attended by Sara Pavkov, State Secretary at the Ministry of Environmental Protection, Veljko Odalović, State Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, and Dr. Branko Stajić, Dean of the Faculty of Forestry at the University of Belgrade. In accordance with the theme of the 2023 International Day of Forests, which is aimed at health, it is necessary to implement concrete measures in order to maintain and further increase the percentage of existing forests. May this day, the World Forestry Day, also be a day to raise awareness of the importance of forests as an invaluable national resource!
