Conservation of forest genetic resources: Key stakeholders' attitudes in forestry and nature protection

Despite the large number of scientific papers dealing with conservation of forest genetic resources, research about the attitudes and evaluation of representatives of key stakeholders in the forestry and nature protection sectors, towards this issue, have not been sufficiently represented so far in Serbia. The aim of this paper was to study the attitudes of representatives of key public institutions (administrative and professional), enterprises, educational and research organizations in the forestry and nature protection sectors, towards the factors that threaten biodiversity, conservation methods, state of seed sources in Serbia and proposals of measures to improve forest genetic resources. The methodology used in the paper is an approach to the research on conservation of forest genetic resources which is used in the social sciences. The survey included a total number of 32 respondents in the territory of the Republic of Serbia. According to the key stakeholders’ opinion, urbanization and infrastructure construction (average score 4.1) have the greatest negative impact on biodiversity; conservation of forest genetic resources in natural populations through designation of seed stands is rated as the most important in situ method (average score 4.60), while establishment of seed orchards and provenance trials are rated as the most important ex situ conservation methods (average score 4.19). From the analysis of respondents' attitudes, it can be concluded that the conservation of forest genetic resources through designation of seed stands (72%) and conservation in protected areas (63%) are methods that gave the best results in Serbia. However, the majority of respondents (about 60%) stated that seed sources in Serbia do not have an appropriate structure and spatial coverage. In addition to the professional activities and support from the institutions, the majority of respondents believe that it is necessary to intensify activities to promote conservation of forest genetic resources.