Forest management as an element of sustainable regional development. Pedagogical and legal aspects.

The purpose of this article is to analyse the processes related to the expansion of the role which forest management plays as an element shaping sustainable regional development. Two specific objectives will serve this purpose. The first of these concerns legal regulations governing forest management arising from both Polish and EU legal systems, and the second pertains to the pedagogical dimension of forest education as a component of education for sustainable regional development. TThe analysis of the proposed research issue will be carried out using the legal dogmatic method and, to some extent, the historical method and the legal comparative method.A key task is to create an appropriate legal instrument, both in the legislative and executive domains. The lack of key legal solutions in these areas may lead to legal stagnation in the implementation of sustainable forest management or the need to recognise the solutions adopted at the EU level, which are not always seen as beneficial to a given Member State.Firstly, a de lege ferenda postulate is to legally regulate the operation of a sustainable forest management system in the Forest Act, by introducing a statutory obligation to prepare a national forestry strategy and regional forestry strategies. Secondly, the process of regulating the above issues should be intrinsically linked to the introduction of legal solutions in the field of forest education in its broadest sense