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I received my Forestry BSc (1982) and MSc (1990) qualifications at the Biotechnical Faculty - Department of Forestry and Forest Renewable Resources in Ljubljana. My tutor was the late Professor Dr Dušan Mlinšek, one of the IUFRO presidents and the founder of Pro Silva Europa. 

 

I have 40+ years of forestry and forest related working experiences in the following fields: silviculture (operational, developmental, research, strategic and consulting); forest growth and dieback (research and strategic); forest management planning (operational and developmental); forest policy, legislation and strategic planning (development, decision-making, research and consulting), forestry organisation and institutions (development, decision-making, consulting and research), public forestry administration (development, decision-making, consulting and research), forestry sector economics (consulting), sustainable and close-to-nature forest management systems and techniques (development and consulting), forest management certification (development and consulting), forest biodiversity conservation and Natura 2000 establishment and management (development, research and consulting).

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My national experiences (21 year) arise from the following employments and engagements in Slovenia:

1) Public Forestry Enterprise Novo mesto, Management unit Straža (as silviculturirst and forest management planner) from 1982 - 1985;

2) University of Ljubljana, Biotechnical Faculty - Department of Forestry (as assistant teacher and researcher for subjests of forest management planning, forest growth and sylviculture) from 1985 - 1993;

3) Forestry High School of Postojna (as honorary teacher for Sylviculture) from 1986 - 1987; 

4) Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Slovenia (as state secretary and head of the forestry sector) from 1993 - 1997,

5) Slovenian Forestry Institute (as assistant director, forest researcher and expert) from 1997 - 2005;

6) Slovenia Forest Service (as president of its Management Council) from 2003 - 2007.

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My international experiences (19+ years) arise from the following employments and engagements:

1) EU PHARE project "Technical assistance to implementation of 1996 Bosnia and Herzegovina forestry programme", implemented by Prospect C&S and partners (as international forest policy and legislation expert), from 1999 - 2000;

2) UN FAO project "Forestry sector development in Serbia", implemented by FAO in cooperation with the Forest Administration of Serbia (as Chief technical adviser and project manager), from 2005 - 2008;

3) Netherlands Development Organisation (SNV) in Montenegro (as forestry sector leader, adviser and consultant), from 2008 - 2011;

4) EU TWINNING project “Further development of sustainable forest management in Kosovo", implemented by Oesterreichische Bundesforste AG (as short-term forest concession consultant) in 2012;

5) UN FAO project “Support to implementation of Forest Policy and Strategy in Kosovo", implemented by FAO in cooperation with the Kosovo ministerial Department of Forestry (as short-term forest management and legislation consultant), in 2013,

6) PEFC project “Mobilising and combining efforts for PEFC SFM certification in Balkan countries, pilot cases Bosnia & Herzegovina and Montenegro", implemented by PEFC Italy in cooperation with local partners (as short-term forestry consultant for development of  Montenegrin SFM standard), from 2012 - 2014;

7) Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Montenegro - Forestry Sector (as occasional forestry advisor to the Assistant Minister for forestry), from 2013 - 2014; 

8) SIDA project "Strengthening Sustainable Private and Decentralised Forestry", implemented by CNVP (Connecting Natural Values and People) Macedonia in 2014 (short-term consultancy for elaboration of Montenegrin forest sector background study) and 2016 (short-term consultancy for elaboration of Montenegrin private forest sector and related rural development recommendations for system changes' study);

9) SIDA project "Support to the implementation of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives in Bosnia and Herzegovina", implemented by Prospect C&S and partners (as short-term forestry and natural resource management expert), in 2014;

10) ) SIDA project "Sylvicultural treatment of young forests in Kosovo", implemented by Kosovo Forest Agency and monitored by Embassy of Sweden (as monitoring and support expert), in 2015;

11) EU IPA Serbia PLAC project "Approximation of FLEGT and EUTR regulations, in 2015;

12) EBRD Montenegro "Forestry, wood industry and renewable energy sectors" project in 2016 (implemented through ÖBF and  Steiermark Wood cluster); 

13) Slovenian Forestry reform proces in 2016/2017 (a concept elaborated as a background for technical and political considerations);

14) ADA & CENN Caucasus project "New institutional model for Ministry of environment and agriculture of Georgia and for restructuring of Georgian Forestry agency) in 2017;

15) PEFC Slovenia re-certification audit of regional forest management in 2018 (implemented as lead auditor through Bureau Veritas d.o.o., Slovenia);

16) WB MIDAS Montenegro "Forestry sector reform project" in 2017 (implemented as individual consultant), 2018 (implemented through GISS d.o.o. Slovenia) and 2019 (implemented as individual consultant); 

17) EU EPPA regional project on illegal logging (2021);

18) EU FWC projects in North Macedonia in 2019/2020 (on forestry sector and policy background studies and a proposal for IPA grant project) and 2021/2022 (on reform in forest policy and legislation);

19) Eco. Georgia GCF project - assignment on Ecosystem-based forest management (2024 - 2025) executed by GIZ/DFS, inlcuding training in practical silviculture.