ABSTRACT
Serbia. Email: uros.radojevic@futura.edu.rs 3 National Research Council, Plant Genetics Institute, Via Madonna del Piano, 10, 50019 Sesto
Fiorentino, Italy. Email: cristina.vettori@cnr.it * Corresponding author
With the present negative effects of climate changes, which are refl ected in, among others, land degradation, degradation of forest ecosystems and loss of biodiversity, biotechnology is gaining a noticeable increase in the interest of both scientifi c and professional organizations, governmental and nongovernmental institutions and private sector. In that sense, fast-growing forest trees are of special interest, since forest ecosystems have a positive effect on climate change mitigation, carbon sequestration, protection of land and water resources and biodiversity conservation (Milovanović and ŠijačićNikolić 2006, Nonić et al. 2012). Also, forests and forest-based industries are under the pressure, because national economies are looking for ways to increase economic benefi ts from natural resources and forest trees can satisfy increasing demands for wood and paper products. Due to that, there is clear need for more effi cient and sustainable commercialisation. In this situation, it is of importance to introduce innovative forest management practices, which may include improvements of tree breeding through genetic engineering (Axelsson 2011). Biotechnology industry and scientists face a
growing number of questions and ethical issues relating to the social context in which biotechnology is used, which may mean a growing discrepancy between expert and public views. Adoption of genetically modifi ed trees will depend not only on the soundness of the technology and science, but also on how these trees are perceived by the public (Gamborg and Sandře 2010, Nonić et al. 2012).
