By: P.T., STA
The government has recently confirmed an agreement under which state-owned forests that used to be classified as farmland but have been overgrown could be cleared to restore land for farming.
Several environmental NGO protested against what they see as massive clear-cutting, but the Agriculture Ministry dismissed the concerns as exaggerated. Minister Jože Podgoršek said the plan merely put in place the same conditions for clear-cutting for state and private forests. He personally expects that no more than a few thousand hectares of forest will be restored to farmland in the next decade.