180 Hectars of Forests to Be Recovered to Former Owners on the Basis of the Law on Denationalization

Ljubljana, 26 January - ECONOMY/TOPIC/WEEK
Slovenia has a bit less than 1.1 million hectares of forests, which cover 54 percent of its territory (20,25 square kilometers), according to the data provided by the forestry department at the Biotechnical Faculty in Ljubljana. About 700,000 hectares or somewhat more than 60 percent of Slovene forests are in private ownership. The Law on Denationalization, which has been in force since the end of 1991, foresees that former owners should be given back the property that had been taken away from them after W.W. II through the agricultural reform and some other regulations of that time. As far as forests are concerned, the process of denationalization is to affect about 180,000 hectares. The beneficiaries are mainly natural persons, the largest among the legal persons involved being the Church.