The Association of Municipal, Private and Church Forest Owners in the Czech Republic (hereinafter SVOL) is a voluntary non profit making organization associating non state forest owners and managers.
SVOL´s mission:
- to participate in forming forestry policy and to advocate respecting property rights and ensuring balance among all aspects of forest management in related legal regulations.
- to draw attention to social, economical and environmental benefits of community and private forest properties for stability and development of country areas.
- to participate in improving expert standards of management of forest properties and to advocate sustainable ways of forest management, among other things by supporting PEFC certification of forests.
- to increase prestige of forest staff and to promote consumption of wood as a renewable resource.
- to contribute by organising joint business mechanisms to long-term supplier-customer relations, the steadiness of the markets and higher appreciation of the wood produced.
At present SVOL represents more than 1,300 non-state forest owners (communities, towns, private forests, forest co-operatives, church, unions of small-scale owners) managing c. 555,000 hectares of woodlands which are cca 21 % of the total forest area in the Czech Republic.
SVOL´s activities:
- monitoring of and amendments to the statutory rules and orders in force or in preparation,
- co-operation in preparation of grant regulations of regions and the Rural Development Programme 2007-2013 in the field of forest management and development of rural areas,
- co-operation with other professional organisations within the country and abroad – CEPF, FECOF, ELO,
- organising workshops and excursions for owners and administrators of non-state forest properties,
- forest pedagogy
- organising joint wood sale,
- joint purchase of forest material within regions,
- advisory services and juridical consultancy for SVOL members
- regular information services for SVOL members,
- public information, participation in exhibitions, publishing specialised publications, publishing its own occasional Newsletter for Owners, Administrators and Friends of Forests.