Mass tourism, fires affecting European Forests
These forest might be expanding by around 7,000 hectares a year but many are still under threat from 'fragmentation' as a result of felling, fires and conversion to agricultural land, and hotel industry, according to experts with the United Nations.
These isolated and fragmented forest systems are not only more vulnerable to climate change, they are less able to support wildlife, stabilise soils and supply sufficient water to the cities, companies and communities that rely on such ecosystem services.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is working with scientists at the European Commission who are drawing up maps pin-pointing where increased tree planting can assist in restoring Europe's green corridors in order to reconnect fragmented forests.
Some of the challenges facing Europe's forests are highlighted in the Carpathian Mountains, running through seven eastern European countries. Here, the number of hotels has increased by almost 60 per cent in the last ten years and popular destinations are being affected by mass tourism.
Since the 1990s, the process of re-privatisation and the transfer of forest areas to private owners has resulted in the disintegration of forest management and the fragmentation of forest coverage in the Carpathian states, according to UNEP.
Forest fires, especially in the Mediterranean basin and in the Russian Federation, are another challenge. The European Forest Institute estimates that 5,00,000 hectares are burnt each year in the Mediterranean region as a result of more than 50,000 fires.
Forest abandonment, coupled with climate change, is increasing the risk of forest fires in the basin. The Institute also estimates that without better forest management necessary for combating desertification, 80 million people living in the Mediterranean region may have access to less than 500m3 of water each year by 2025.
The meeting in Oslo of the Ministerial Conference on the Protection of Forests in Europe, Ministers, aims to move forward on the fragmentation issue and more effective forest policies.
A key item to be addressed at the conference is the elaboration of a strengthened policy framework for sustainable forest management throughout Europe. In this context, the ministers are expected to open negotiations on a legally binding agreement on forests in Europe.
The ministers of the seven Carpathian States have just taken the lead on legal instruments. On May 27, High Level Representatives of Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic and Ukraine decided to further cooperate and strengthen their efforts to protect, maintain and sustainably manage forests in the Carpathians.
The legal framework has been established through the approval of the Protocol on Sustainable Forest Management to the Carpathian Convention.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) already provides a legally-binding regulatory scheme ensuring that international trade in listed timber species and non-timber forest products is legal, sustainable and traceable. (UNI -Posted on / )
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