The Forest Dialogue: «Today» and «Tomorrow» of Komi Forest Villages
The Republican Forest Dialogue was held in Syktyvkar on March 12-13, 2009. Foreststakeholders and other interested parties took part in this event.
This Dialogue was organized by Silver Taiga Foundation under Forest Village Project and it was the continuation of the international Forest Dialogue held in October 2008.
The following issues were discussed during the Republican Forest Dialogue:
- Acquaintance with the international initiative «The Forest Dialogue» and the results of the international Forest Dialogue mentioned above.
- Presentation of Forest Village Project.
- Analysis of the problems and perspectives of the local self-government development in Komi.
- Analysis of socio-economic situation in Komi forest villages.
- Analysis of the forest villages development potential on the basis of forest resources use.
Are there natural resources for development of the main branches of industry in Komi forest settlements? What are possible schemes of economically effective resources use? What are the barriers in the development of agricultural and forest industries? What are the ways out ofthese barriers? Is there any possibility to develop tourism and processing of non-timber forest products in Komi forest villages? The participants tried to answer these and some other questions during the Dialogue.
It has been decided to continue discussions of the urgent forest villages’ development issues.