Carbon implications of forest restitution in post-socialist Romania

Abstract

The collapse of socialism in 1989 triggered a phase of institutional restructuring in Central and Eastern Europe. Several countries chose to privatize forests or to return them to pre-socialist owners. Here, we assess the implications of forest restitution on the terrestrial carbon balance. New forest owners have strong incentives to immediately clearcut their forests, resulting in increased terrestrial emissions. On the other hand, logging generally decreased after 1989 and forests are expanding on unused or abandoned farmland, both of which may offset increased logging on restituted forests. We mapped changes in forest cover for the entire country of Romania using Landsat satellite images from 1990 to 2010. We use our satellite estimates, together with historic data on logging rates and changes in forest cover, to parameterize a carbon book-keeping model for estimating the terrestrial carbon flux (above and below ground) as a consequence of land use change and forest harvest. High logging rates during socialism resulted in substantial terrestrial carbon emissions and Romania was a net carbon source until the 1980s. After the collapse of the Soviet Union forest harvest rates decreased dramatically, but since restitution laws were implemented they have increased by 60% (from 15 122 ± 5397 ha y −1 in 2000 to 23 884 ± 11 510 ha y −1 in 2010), but still remain lower than prior to 1989. Romania currently remains a terrestrial carbon sink, offsetting 7.6% ± 2.5% of anthropogenic carbon emissions. A further increase in logging could result in net emissions from terrestrial ecosystems during the coming decades. However, forest expansion on degraded land and abandoned farmland offers great potential for carbon sequestration.

Assessment of Textural Differentiations in Forest Resources in Romania Using Fractal Analysis

“…The 1926 to 1948 period has been characterized by a decrease in private land ownership, whereas from 1948 to 1989, in the socialist period, the forests were entirely state-owned. In the post-socialist period, an increase in private lands is a result of the three privatization laws from 1990 to 2004 [27,52]. Logging was particularly intense during the Socialist-era in the 1960s and 1970s but forest harvesting declined during the 1990s as a consequence of the collapse of the timber market and lower institutional strength and weak law enforcement, triggering an increase in illegal logging at the expense of planned logging [27,51,52].…”

“…In the post-socialist period, an increase in private lands is a result of the three privatization laws from 1990 to 2004 [27,52]. Logging was particularly intense during the Socialist-era in the 1960s and 1970s but forest harvesting declined during the 1990s as a consequence of the collapse of the timber market and lower institutional strength and weak law enforcement, triggering an increase in illegal logging at the expense of planned logging [27,51,52]. Areas of primary forest in Romania covered aproximately 4000 km 2 in 1984 but this was reduced to 2185 km 2 in 2004 [28,53] and consequently the habitats for species were also diminished [24].…”

“…The socio-economic trends governed by political changes after the post-socialist period [25,26] and forest restitutions [27,28] to former private owners and legal entities [29].…”

Using the Landsat data archive to assess long-term regional forest dynamics assessment in Eastern Europe, 1985-2012

“…The legal framework of forest management changed due to land privatization, reduction of state control, and changes in forest use regulations (Lazdinis et al, 2004;Strimbu et al, 2005;Torniainen et al, 2006;Vanwambeke et al, 2012). In terms of economics, price liberalization, modification of forest consumer network and processing infrastructure had significant effects coupled with the expansion of the European Union expansion, changes in markets, and the recent global economic crisis (Kuemmerle et al, 2009;Wendland et al, 2011;Olofsson et al, 2011). Among countries, most of these changes were multidirectional and not time-synchronous (Kuemmerle et al, 2006).…”

The Influence of Age, Location and Soil Conditions on the Allometry of Young Norway Spruce (<i>Picea abies</i> L. Karst.) Trees

“…tree diameter, height) and some other tree features (e.g. tree biomass) much more difficult to assess, is one of the most important tool in biomass and carbon estimations in forests (Chave et al, 2005;Olofsson et al, 2011;Blujdea et al, 2012). However, diameter at breast height is more frequently used as independent variable in allometric equations, because is less difficult to measure, compared to height, in mature forests (Zianis et al, 2005).…”