POLICY AND PRACTICE The Future Tenure of Rural Public Lands in Slovakia

The adoption of democracy and the market economy ideology in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe is encouraging changes in rural public land policy. A system of state public land is being partly dismantled, to be replaced by private ownership.This paper exploresthe present dynamics of the rural public land reprivatization process in Slovakia. In Slovakia approximately 40% of rural public land are being reprivatized. Evidence indicates that the reprivatization of public land is having a detrimental effect on the management of State Forests, National Parks and game management.The integrated, centrally planned public land system of the communist era is being fragmented by reprivatization. This paper argues that this process is creating barriers to the achievement of the sustainable management of the natural resources of rural Slovakia. Recent Governmentof Slovakia laws and policies on sustainable development and environmental management, and adherence to international environmental conventions may provide opportunities for enlightened change in the reprivatization process. A public land system in a democratic free market economy can be an effective mechanism to secure the protection and the sustainable managementof forests, farmland, game, outstanding landscapes and wildlife. This is an opportune time to debate the future of rural public land in Central and Eastern Europe in order that enlightened policy making may be fostered.