Stakeholders’ perceptions of the innovation trends in the Slovak forestry and forest-based sectors

Innovations represent the engine of the business and economic. This is particularly relevant to the traditional sectors such as forestry and forest-based industry that are expected to play an important role in the future steps oriented towards meeting the sustainable development goals. The main aim of this study is to analyse the stakeholders’ perceptions of the innovation trends in the forestry and forest-based sectors by using a Q-methodology. This research addressed three groups of respondents in Slovakia, whose task was to subjectively assess innovative trends in the forestry and forest-based sectors. Based on the results it can be concluded that the innovation trend in the forestry and forest-based sectors will be oriented towards the technological progress focused on the increasing efficiency of wood processing and increasing the usability of waste material as well as the trend of increasing development of innovations in the forest recreation services

Stakeholder's perceptions of the innovation trends in the Slovak forestry and forest based sectors

Innovations represent the engine of the business and economic. This is particularly relevant to the traditional sectors such as forestry and forest-based industry that are expected to play an important role in the future steps oriented towards meeting the sustainable development goals. The main aim of this study is to analyse the stakeholders’ perceptions of the innovation trends in the forestry and forest-based sectors by using a Q-methodology. This research addressed three groups of respondents in Slovakia, whose task was to subjectively assess innovative trends in the forestry and forest-based sectors. Based on the results it can be concluded that the innovation trend in the forestry and forest-based sectors will be oriented towards the technological progress focused on the increasing efficiency of wood processing and increasing the usability of waste material as well as the trend of increasing development of innovations in the forest recreation services

Payments for Forest Ecosystem Services Across Europe – Main Approaches and Examples from Slovakia

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are flexible, financial mechanisms for utilisation of available finances for environmental improvement. Payments for forest ecosystem services (PFES) have gained increasing policy acceptance at national and international levels. However, evidence about their implementation is limited and rather mixed. PES design is a complex task. There are a number of PES design features that need careful understanding of the specific ecological and socio-economic context. The aim of this article is to analyse main approaches to PFES and types of PES schemes or financial arrangements with the emphasis on three basic schemes: (i) public schemes or government-financed PES (Pigouvian type), (ii) private schemes or user-financed PES (Coasean type) and (iii) public–private schemes (a mixed type). The empirical part is based on the review of PES schemes implemented in different Forest Europe signatory countries. The main features of PES schemes are described on chosen examples from Slovakia

The forest land tax systems in Slovakia and Portugal

Forests cover almost one half of European land. Therefore, land taxes, including taxes from forests, are essential for a municipality's income. The land tax system is implemented on different levels, mainly nationally and locally. Therefore, many land tax features are settled by federal law, and others differ according to the local tax administrators. The objective of the paper is to compare the current laws and principles and the implementation process of forest land in Slovakia and Portugal. We have selected countries from different geographical areas of Europe. Even though the forest compositions and forest ownership differ, we aimed to identify whether the forest land tax systems can be similar. We analysed the legislation and strategic documents on the national level that helped us to describe the land tax system and its general features (e.g. taxpayer, tax rate, tax base, exemption options, tax period, or penalties). In both countries, the national tax law governs the tax implementation and settles any basic processes related to tax collection. The municipalities have the right to revise both the tax rates and exemptions. The results also show that forest owners in Slovakia have more options for tax exemptions than in Portugal

PODPORNÉ A BRZDIACE FAKTORY V PROCESE PRENOSU VEDECKÝCH POZNATKOV DO PRAXE NA TECHNICKEJ UNIVERZITE VO ZVOLENE: POHĽAD PARTNEROV Z HOSPODÁRSKEJ PRAXE

Universities are a driving force for the innovation process in the economy, as they are not only active in teaching or scientific research, but also in the transfer of knowledge into business practise. The process of transferring knowledge and technology into practise can be challenging and is influenced by several factors that affect its quality and potential success. For this reason, this study focuses on the analysis of the cooperation between the Technical University in Zvolen and business practise from the perspective of business practitioners. Therefore, we assessed the interest in cooperation with the university and devoted ourselves to identifying supporting and inhibiting factors that occur in the transfer of knowledge into practise. The results obtained indicate a low willingness of economic agents to participate in the survey. Informal and formal information exchange as well as educational activities turned out to be the most frequently used, with interest in these forms of knowledge transfer also from the perspective of possible future cooperation

The Design of the Payments for Water-Related Ecosystem Services: What Should the Ideal Payment in Slovakia Look Like?

Water-related forest ecosystems services (WES) are vital to the functioning of the biosphere, society, and human well-being. In Slovakia, the active support of WES is provided by economic instruments of forest policy, while the market-based solution as payments for water-related services (PWS) is lacking. Starting from this point, the objective matter of the paper is to develop the payments for WES schemes in Slovakia. The study was based on document analysis and stakeholders´ opinions towards PWS. Fifteen Slovak stakeholders from forestry, water management, and nature protection were involved in the study. These stakeholders represent potential buyers, seller, intermediaries, and knowledge providers in PWS schemes. Based on the theoretical background and the results of the survey, the authors defined key aspects of the design and implementation of PWS schemes in Slovak conditions such as potential buyers and sellers, important factors for the implementation of PWS schemes, and the role of public authorities

Stakeholders\u27 opinions towards water-related forests ecosystem services in selected southeast European countries (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia)

Even though water-related forest ecosystem services are important for forestry and water management sectors, they have different definitions and are regulated differently in each sector, which makes them poorly recognized. How stakeholders from two main sectors (forestry and water management) perceive the importance of water-related forest ecosystem services, the tradoffs between ecosystem services and the effectiveness and implementation of payments schemes related to forest water ecosystem services were our areas of interest. We have conduct surveys with different groups of stakeholders from both sectors in four selected countries (the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia) with a lot of similarities and the potential to learn from each other. The results show that in spite of the spotted differences among analyzed countries, there is a high level of agreement among respondents on all investigated aspects. In addition, even though different payment schemes exist in three of four countries, stakeholders are rarely aware of their existence, or it is better to say that they do not recognize them as payment schemes for ecosystem services because of their names and definitions, which do not clearly define ecosystem services. Mostly, they use bundled services and non%voluntary payments and are designed and implemented by the states. Due to the strong role of states and the low transparency in the existing schemes, we looked at possible conditions reflected through stakeholders\u27 opinions for overcoming that obstacle for the development of new payment schemes. We found that there is a high level of acceptance of payments schemes as more effective than \u27command and control\u27 schemes and of the involvement of other stakeholders in decision-making processes as those conditions that can positively influence development of new payment schemes in all four countries. These results give us hope that in spite of the strong role of the state in selected countries, the role of stakeholders will be more acknowledged and, by that, the future schemes will be more harmonized among the sectors and their goals and needs, contributing to its effectiveness as well