Vesna Golubovic-Curguz^*, Mara Tabakovic-Tosic, Milorad Veselinovic, and Snezana Rajkovic

Instituteof Forestry, Kneza Viseslava 3, Belgrade, Serbia. ^*E-mail: vesnacurguz@gmail.com

The reaction of the isolates of the pathogenic species Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht. and Pythium debaryanum (R. Hesse) Nieuwl. to the presence of zinc, copper, lead and cadmium, which were added to the nutritive medium for the determination of their in vitro tolerance, measured by the inhibition of the growth of mycelium were studied. The experiments were performed in the laboratory conditions by adding the suspension of the zinc, copper, lead, and cadmium in three different concentrations on the nutritive medium. The influence of the heavy metals on the growth rate of the pathogenic fungi depended on the type of metal and their concentration. The lowest degree of influence was exhibited by the presence of zinc, whereas the highest concentration of cadmium exhibited the highest degree of influence. Fusarium oxysporum, the mycelium of which grew considerably slowly in the presence of all metals, exhibited the lowest degree of tolerance to heavy metals, whereas even the lowest concentrations of Pythium debaryanum are tolerant to the presence of all metals, even in case of the highest concentrations.
Key words: pathogenic fungi, nutritiv medium, tolerance to heavy metals, the growth of mycelium.

Jan-Erik Nylund

Dept. of Forest Products, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, PO Box 7008, 75007 Uppsala, Sweden. E-mail: jan-erik.nylund@sprod.slu.se

Forest policy making is a process, making compromises of conflicting interests and political ambitions. However, the outcome in terms of i.e. timber production tends to be a guesswork. In Sweden, forecasting tools based on national inventory data and detailed simulations make hundred-year forecasts of policy alternatives possible. A case is presented where the government's ambitious policy of fomenting wood production for sawmilling, pulpwood and biofuel is contrasted with an equally ambitious action proposal to reach general environmental objectives formulated by parliament. A realistic scenario to implement both policies proved to differ very little from the, by itself quite ambitious, business-as-usual scenario, but would have a notable impact on the forest landscape. Yet, the past 50 years' management sets a general trend of increasing potential cut and standing stock, regardless of policy alternative examined. The analysis underlines that policy needs a hard factual base but cannot be separated from political values. The role of changed perceptions of forestry in society is also discussed.
Key words: policy evaluation, harvesting opportunity forecast, national forestry plan.

Evija Grege-Staltmane

Forest Faculty, Latvia University of Agriculture. Dobeles street 41, LV - 3001, Jelgava, Latvia. E-mail: evija_g2002@yahoo.com

The role of investing for each country's welfare is obvious. The international capital may come into a country's economics through international investments, different funds, and also through banks. To enable forestry to progress successfully and be competitive, some regular and stable investments are needed for its development. For the banks in Latvia, forestry has not been the priority sector in recent years. Understanding the special role of bank loans in forestry, in November 2009, a social research was carried out on the basis of a questionnaire in order to understand the attitude of the Latvian banks towards the forest land as a loan. The research revealed the strong and the weak sides of forestry, as well as some possible opportunities and threats in Latvia from the point of view of the banks. The results of the survey showed that banks consider forestry to be a very risky sector and they do not plan to deal with it in the near future.
Key words: banks, investments, forest value, forestry.