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Preferential land tax programs are used over 50 years and are mainly connected with nature protection and environmental goals. Nowadays, they are also considered as a way how to promote and support forest ecosystem services that arise from exempted forest land. In Slovak Republic national forest land tax reduction scheme exists for special purpose and protection forests, as well for other forests with special importance. The goal of the paper was to develop a multidimensional evaluation of this economic instrument for ecosystem service support in Slovakia. We evaluated how the forest land tax reduction fits into the payments for ecosystem services theory, which services are supported and what is the potential and implementation effectiveness according to theory of policy analysis. Even though, the forest owners and enterprises benefit from tax reductions, evidence regarding its visibility as payment for ecosystem service is low. Forest land tax reductions are considered as other economic incentive for ecosystem services support with moderate potential effectiveness. Despite the instrument have low visibility of FES supported from both sides – sellers and beneficiaries, its potential effectiveness is high, due its automatic and stable implementation without relevant implementation gaps.

In practice, employees of research institutions quite often encounter factors that support or, conversely, hinder their involvement in the process of knowledge and technology transfer. The identification of these factors is therefore key to ensuring the successful and effective knowledge transfer at national as well as regional level. In this paper, we focus on the identification of supporting and limiting factors in the knowledge and technology transfer process from the perspective of employees of the Technical University in Zvolen.

Transfer of technology and scientific knowledge into the practice is key factor of sustainable economic growth and competitiveness. Business activities of universities applied research and knowledge transfer in cooperation with economic field and society could bring them additional financial sources and prestige. Starting from these considerations, the goal of the paper is to analyse status of technology and knowledge transfer in Technical University in Zvolen, with emphasis on identification of most used forms of knowledge and technology transfer.

Innovations represent the engine of the business and economic. This is particularly relevant to the traditional sectors such as forestry and forest-based industry that are expected to play an important role in the future steps oriented towards meeting the sustainable development goals. The main aim of this study is to analyse the stakeholders’ perceptions of the innovation trends in the forestry and forest-based sectors by using a Q-methodology. This research addressed three groups of respondents in Slovakia, whose task was to subjectively assess innovative trends in the forestry and forest-based sectors. Based on the results it can be concluded that the innovation trend in the forestry and forest-based sectors will be oriented towards the technological progress focused on the increasing efficiency of wood processing and increasing the usability of waste material as well as the trend of increasing development of innovations in the forest recreation services.

Even though water-related forest ecosystem services are important for forestry and water management sectors, they have different definitions and are regulated differently in each sector, which makes them poorly recognized. How stakeholders from two main sectors (forestry and water management) perceive the importance of water-related forest ecosystem services, the trade-offs between ecosystem services and the effectiveness and implementation of payments schemes related to forest water ecosystem services were our areas of interest. We have conduct surveys with different groups of stakeholders from both sectors in four selected countries (the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia) with a lot of similarities and the potential to learn from each other. The results show that in spite of the spotted differences among analyzed countries, there is a high level of agreement among respondents on all investigated aspects. In addition, even though different payment schemes exist in three of four countries, stakeholders are rarely aware of their existence, or it is better to say that they do not recognize them as payment schemes for ecosystem services because of their names and definitions, which do not clearly define ecosystem services. Mostly, they use bundled services and non-voluntary payments and are designed and implemented by the states. Due to the strong role of states and the low transparency in the existing schemes, we looked at possible conditions reflected through stakeholders’ opinions for overcoming that obstacle for the development of new payment schemes. We found that there is a high level of acceptance of payments schemes as more effective than “command and control” schemes and of the involvement of other stakeholders in decision-making processes as those conditions that can positively influence development of new payment schemes in all four countries. These results give us hope that in spite of the strong role of the state in selected countries, the role of stakeholders will be more acknowledged and, by that, the future schemes will be more harmonized among the sectors and their goals and needs, contributing to its effectiveness as well.

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are flexible, financial mechanisms for utilisation of available finances for environmental improvement. Payments for forest ecosystem services (PFES) have gained increasing policy acceptance at national and international levels. However, evidence about their implementation is limited and rather mixed. PES design is a complex task. There are a number of PES design features that need careful understanding of the specific ecological and socio-economic context. The aim of this article is to analyse main approaches to PFES and types of PES schemes or financial arrangements with the emphasis on three basic schemes: (i) public schemes or government-financed PES (Pigouvian type), (ii) private schemes or user-financed PES (Coasean type) and (iii) public–private schemes (a mixed type). The empirical part is based on the review of PES schemes implemented in different Forest Europe signatory countries. The main features of PES schemes are described on chosen examples from Slovakia.

Water-related forest ecosystems services (WES) are vital to the functioning of the biosphere, society, and human well-being. In Slovakia, the active support of WES is provided by economic instruments of forest policy, while the market-based solution as payments for water-related services (PWS) is lacking. Starting from this point, the objective matter of the paper is to develop the payments for WES schemes in Slovakia. The study was based on document analysis and stakeholders&acute, opinions towards PWS. Fifteen Slovak stakeholders from forestry, water management, and nature protection were involved in the study. These stakeholders represent potential buyers, seller, intermediaries, and knowledge providers in PWS schemes. Based on the theoretical background and the results of the survey, the authors defined key aspects of the design and implementation of PWS schemes in Slovak conditions such as potential buyers and sellers, important factors for the implementation of PWS schemes, and the role of public authorities.

Background: Forests provide a wide range of water-related ecosystem services (WES) vital for human well-being such as groundwater recharge, runoff and water discharge to streams, soil erosion protection, aesthetic landscape and recreational opportunities. Sustainable forest management and afforestation/reforestation practices can maintain and improve the long-term provision of WES. In this context, new market-based mechanisms – Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) – can promote sustainable forest management by reducing negative externalities. To implement PES schemes for WES, many stakeholders with different knowledge, interests, and needs must be consulted and involved in the design and implementation process.Methods: The aim of this study is to investigate stakeholders’ opinions on the relationships between forests and water resources and the water-related Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes in Italy. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered by email to 39 stakeholders identified through a stakeholder analysis. The stakeholders were classified in four groups: buyers (15.4% of stakeholders), sellers (15.4%), intermediaries (43.6%), and knowledge providers (25.6%).Results and conclusions: The results show that the three most important WES provided by forests are soil erosion reduction, followed by provision of habitats for different species and surface runoff reduction. The respondents emphasize the importance of regulating and supporting services, while they minimize the importance of cultural services. For the sample of respondents, market-based instruments have an efficiency comparable to regulatory instruments, but a shared value for ecosystem services among stakeholders is required in the implementation of PES schemes. According to respondents' opinions, the public authority should play the role of both buyer and regulator, while the other stakeholders should be consulted (citizens) or actively involved (farmers’ and forest owners’ associations) in the decision-making process related to the PES schemes.

Nowadays, great emphasis is placed on the relationship between forest and water because forests are considered as substantial sources of many water ecosystem services. The aim of this paper is to analyze the stakeholder opinions towards the relationship between forests and water and the potential development of water-related payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes. The study is developed in the context of COST Action CA15206&ndash, PESFOR-W (Forests for Water) aimed at synthesizing current knowledge about the PES schemes across Europe. The stakeholder opinions were mapped out using a structured questionnaire consisting of 20 questions divided into four thematic sections. The data were collected through an online survey. The results showed opinions of 142 stakeholders from 23 countries, mainly from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin. In order to analyze the collected data, the stakeholders were grouped in buyers, sellers, intermediaries, and knowledge providers. The survey results indicated that the most important category of water ecosystem services according to our sample of stakeholders is regulating services followed by provisioning services. Further findings pointed out the highest importance that shared values and direct changes in land management can have when designing water-related PES schemes. The role of public authorities and collective collaboration of different stakeholders, with emphasis on local and expert knowledge, are also identified as of crucial importance. The results show that stakeholder opinions can serve as a starting point when designing PES schemes.