An alert simultaneously sounded at noon on Zagreb's Mt. Medvednica, Mt. Fruska Gora in Serbia, and Mt. Durmitor in Montenegro, will mark the beginning of a protest for the protection of forests on Saturday, October 5, said the Zeleni Odred (Green Squad) Croatian non-governmental organisation.

Three non-governmental organisations, Zeleni Odred from Croatia, Cuvari/ke Fruske Gore (Guardians of Fruska Gora) from Serbia and the Coalition for the Sustainable Development of Montenegro, signed an international agreement on cooperation in the protection of forests in Ruma, Serbia, on September 14.

The protest on Mt Medvednica will be held at the Risnjak climbers’ lodging.

“Serious disruptions of the forest structure and stability are dangerous. Forest protection is usually needed when forest management is jeopardised, when the use of valuable forest products is under threat,” says Zeleni Odred, which claims that not enough is being done to protect forests in Croatia.

Such trends have been present for years and the situation is the same in neighbouring countries, the activists claim.

They recall that they have been working for the last year and a half on collecting evidence on who is responsible for the poor state of Croatian forests and that a lawsuit will soon be completed.

“The names of the politicians, corrupt employees of the Hrvatske Sume forest management company, the owners of sawmills and corrupt police officials in some communities are on a list that has been submitted to judicial institutions,” the activists say, noting that in a discussion on an EU forest strategy at the start of this year, Croatia was mentioned, along with Romania, in the negative context of illegal logging.