Speaking at the event, the president of the Academy of Forestry Science, Slavko Matic, said that Croatia had two million hectares of forest and 400,000 hectares of forest land.
"If we continue treating forests as we are treating them now, when we join the EU in 2007 or 2010 their quality will be the same as the quality of European forests, which will be disastrous," Matic said.
The movement to reintroduce the natural management of forests "Pro silva", which is active in Europe today, was founded by Croatia and Slovenia in 1977.
Matic said that areas covered with forests in Croatia had been decreasing every year since 1996, when the parliament unanimously adopted the Law on Roads, which Matic said was contrary to the Law on Forests and the Constitution.
The Zagreb seminar, which pooled some 250 forest managers, was organised by the International Union of Forest Research Organisations, the Academy of Forestry Science, and faculties of agronomy from Zagreb and Brno. It was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management.