periods taken into study, starting from the first Forest Law from 1923 to the latest one from 2005 as
amended in 2007 has been achieved. The review helped in identifying the general content of forest
laws which were approved in the respective years and provided useful information on the content and
issues the forest laws have regulated. It’s evident that not all the forest laws have had the same
content. Considerable differences have occurred which were conditioned by a lot of factors, socioeconomic
and political ones. Table 1 provides an overview on the main objectives the forest laws have
had, the trend the forestry sector had in the King Zogu I, the communism period and the pluralism
period until 2007. Not all the Albanian forest laws had in their framework well set objectives, a
characteristic that becomes a trend in the laws after 1990.
It must be underlined that the in different times forests policy and forest management had different
goals to be reached. The forest has been treated mostly as a source of income for the population and
the different instances managing them, in the former times including the King Zogu I period until
1990. After this period forest functions and the sustainable management of the forest fund have been
the leading concept in drafting the two forest laws being issued in the period after 199. Considerations
on the role of all relevant stakeholders in decision making processes are another significant aspect
which the last two laws have regulated and defined as among the main objectives of forest legislation.
A comparative analysis (Table 2) allowed identifying and commenting the major issues the forest laws
regulated and treated in the three mentioned periods. Variety in the criteria regulated is noticeable due
to the different policies, economic and social factor with impacting decisions related to this sector.
When analyzing the table and noting the factors which the laws have mostly treated, it is obvious that
the main difference can be noticed between the two periods; before 1990 and after the collapse of the
communist regime.
Multifunctional sustainable management of forest and cross-sectoral policy issues have not been
regulated and in some cases not even been mentioned in the laws from 1923 to 1990. This fact can be
justified from policy followed regarding the forest sector and from the dictatorship system set in the
country in the time. These issues have become very important and are mostly regulated by the two
forest laws issued in the pluralism period, during which the country experienced important
developments, and international and national policies regarding the sector were cooperating.
An important missing criterion in most of the forest laws is training and research. These issues have
not been regulated until the very latest forestry law defining clearly and emphasizing their importance
in the development of the forestry sector. In adapting to the increased requirements of society towards
forestry and environment and vice versa, in the necessity to protect them and to adopt new
management methods, these two subjects became very important. Identifying deficits and helping to
built an increasing professionalism among forestry professionals are some of the tasks these issues aim
at improving.
An interesting fact to be mentioned after this research is that in the content of all forest laws the issues
regarding the forest products trade and transport are not regulated. This is sustained by the fact that
always the wood industry has not been treated as component piece of the forestry sector. Rather is has
been looked at as dependent from it, at least regarding the forest laws, which didn’t regulate neither
mention at all subjects such as regulation of certification of forest products or the forest produce
processing industry.
Cross sectoral policy objectives, a decisive factor on sustaining commitment of forest policy actors in
involving the public and all stakeholders in decision making processes, are not mentioned until the
laws issued during the pluralism period. A top down decision making system, an element identifying
the whole governance system of former times, was a characteristic of the forestry sector, too. Recent
time’s development, characterized by decisive improvements in all our society and policies are
reflected also in the forestry sector. As a fact these criteria are regulated by the two forest laws issued
respectively at 1992 and 2005 amended in 2007, showing the commitment and ensuring the
innovation, and its cooperation with other sectors. More or less the same situation appears in the
regulation regarding planning of the development in this sector, which is regulated only in the very
last law.
Property rights and management system criteria have shown evident difference within periods. The
main element making the difference is the recognizing of the different forms of ownership. With the
law from 1923, all forms of ownership to the forest land are recognized and have been regulated by
law, while the communism period regulates issues regarding the only form of ownership existing, state
one. With the adoption of the 1992 forest law, the three forms of ownership to forest land are regulated
and recognized by law. Improvement regarding this issue, especially the community forestry related
policies, is noticeable in the law from 2005 amended in 2007. 60% of forest area gets transferred
under commune’s ownership, a process approving the legibility of the communal property and its role
in improving rural peoples’ live.
The institutional framework is an issue regulated completely only by the last forest law from 2005.
Among all the criteria this section develops, forest administration is the one being regulated only by
the last forest laws; the one from 1992 and 2005 amended in 2007. The actual stage of this structure is
the product of many changes this administration has gone through in order to adapt to policy
requirements. More changes are needed in order to be in line with the decentralization process which
implies further adaptation of this structure to the new actuality, where their tasks and duties should be
reset. Involvement of the public and of forest owners in decision making is a totally innovative criteria
and a special characteristic of the forest law from 2005. In none of the other laws issued before in the
history of forest legislation this topic has even been mentioned. This shows the commitment of the
forest policy actors and institution for achieving a high democratic level in decision making processes
ensuring the participation of all relevant stakeholders.
Concluding this last section it should be underlined that forest legislation has gone along a very long
development path. This research provides a review of the main forest laws analyzing some of their
major elements and showing what was possible at a given time. It highlights the main important
changes that happened and the main influencing factors inciting these changes.