Continued loss of temperate old-growth forests in the Romanian Carpathians despite an increasing protected area network

Abstract

SUMMARYOld-growth forests around the world are vanishing rapidly and have been lost almost completely from the European temperate forest region. Poor management practices, often triggered by socioeconomic and institutional change, are the main causes of loss. Recent trends in old-growth forest cover in Romania, where some of the last remaining tracts of these forests within Europe are located, are revealed by satellite image analysis. Forest cover declined by 1.3 % from 2000 to 2010. Romania's protected area network has been expanded substantially since the country's accession to the European Union in 2007, and most of the remaining old-growth forests now are located within protected areas. Surprisingly though, 72% of the old-growth forest disturbances are found within protected areas, highlighting the threats still facing these forests. It appears that logging in old-growth forests is, at least in part, related to institutional reforms, insufficient protection and ownership changes since the collapse of communism in 1989. The majority of harvesting activities in old-growth forest areas are in accordance with the law. Without improvements to their governance, the future of Romania's old-growth forests and the important ecosystem services they provide remains uncertain.

Influence of Sessile Oak Log Characteristics on the Efficiency in Veneer Cutting

“…Oak trees can have large dimensions, and the wood itself presents specific and valuable physical, mechanical, and aesthetic properties (Kruch and Nicolescu 2010;Knorn et al 2012;Petrițan et al 2012). It is worth mentioning that at the national level, the sessile oak represents 10.5% of the forest area, it is the highest spread indigenous oak species, and it occupies 56% of the Quercus species area (Şofletea and Curtu 2007).…”

Forest management and future changes to ecosystem services in the Romanian Carpathians

“…Existing research on land cover changes in the Carpathian region, however, suggests that their consequences are complex (Griffiths et al 2012(Griffiths et al , 2014Knorn et al 2013). This study complements the understanding of a variety of possible consequences of forest cover changes and also addresses the spatial component of this issue.…”

“…As a consequence, the region witnessed land abandonment and reforestation, leading to the loss of low-intensity grasslands and cropland Taff et al 2009;Baumann et al 2011). Simultaneously, the region witnessed an increase in timber harvesting, often leading to degradation of forest ecosystems (Griffiths et al 2012;Knorn et al 2013). Carpathian ecosystems are thus among the most vulnerable to anthropogenic change, also due to severe natural conditions (Kozak et al 2007).…”

On the Biogeographical Significance of Protected Forest Areas in Southern Romania

“…In Romania, environmental policies were not always able to provide protection for forests for being fragmented or even logged. Thus, under the socio-economic or institutional changes of the last decades, the effectiveness of protected areas was often affected, and significant deforested areas have been recorded [9][10][11]. Thus, forests constantly shrank, especially on the privately-owned terrains, under land privatization, changes in forest use regulations or forest restitution [12,13] leading to loss of species that have biogeographical or conservation significance for ecosystem functioning.…”

“…In addition, some studies focused on the conservation of forests [20,22] and their management in protected areas [11,23,24], as well as on forest degradation under extreme weather events and pollution [25,26]. Nonetheless, there is an increasing need to focus more on the protection of forest protected areas, especially in areas under the growing human influence, i.e., Southern Romania.…”