FTF members
On international issues
Veronika Ferdinandova, Forest Task Force Co-ordinator
e-mail: veronika.ferdinandova@bspb.org
Many years ago BSPB, the BirdLife Partner in Bulgaria, gave me the chance to better understand the need for nature conservation. Being experienced in academic aspects and practical forestry, and at the same time being familiar with conservation issues related to forests I am trying to approach the problems in their complex context.
Andrzej Bobiec, FTF Head of Biodiversity Research
e-mail: andbob@tlen.pl
Before being hired by OTOP I studied structural characteristics of natural and man-altered forests in Poland's Białowieża Primeval Forest (BPF). In 1995 I co-founded the Society for Protection of the BPF, an ENGO aiming to preserve the whole Białowieża ecosystem.
I am pleased to join BirdLife FTF both as a scientific expert of the Belarus-Poland Mapping Project and as a Research Officer. My current research is primarily on indicators for helping to identify natural or almost natural forest conditions. This is a huge topic, and I will be relying heavily on information collected and shared by others. I welcome correspondence from others working in this field.
Diyana Kostovska, Head of the FTF’s Biologically Important Forests Working group
e-mail: diyana.kostovska@bspb.org
and Manager of the Bulgarian—Romanian Forest Mapping Project. Before, Diana worked as a specialist in tourism and recreation at the Central Balkan National Park in Bulgaria and as an assistant in research projects in Munich. Diyana graduated Forestry University and the Technical University in Munich, MSc Programme in Sustainable Resource Management.
Sini Harkki, Head of the FTF's working group on forest certification
e-mail: sini.harkki@sll.fiSini has worked in Finnish NGOs for the last six years on various forest issues and her most important campaign was the protection of old-growth forests in North Finland. She is one of the authors of two reports on Finnish PEFC-certification and has also participated in the development of the Finnish national FSC standard. “Our most important task in the working group is the ecological assessment of FCS’s impacts. I’d also like BirdLife to be more active in the plantation issue. We need to share our expertise more effectively.” she says.
National Forest Officers
Krystyna Stachura, OTOP / BirdLife Poland, krystyna.stachura@otop.org.pl
Vanya Ratarova – BSPB / BirdLife Bulgaria, vanya.ratarova@bspb.org
Cristian Domsa – SOR / BirdLife Romania, cristi.domsa@sor.ro
Pavol Polak – SOS / BirdLife Slovakia, pali@stiavnica.net
Gabor Wihman – BirdLife Austria, gabor.wichmann@birdlife.at