Readjusting Romania’s Forestry Policy with a View to the Year 2050

Valentin Mihai BOHATEREŢ*¹
* Corresponding author
¹ Romanian Academy, “Gh. Zane” Social and Economic Institute, Iaşi, ROMANIA
E-mail: icesceris@yahoo.com
Pages: 27-42. URL: https://geografie.ubbcluj.ro/ccau/jssp/arhiva_si1_2012/03JSSPSI012012.pdf

Cite: Bohatereț V. M. (2012), Readjusting Romania’s Forestry Policy with a View to the Year 2050. Journal of Settlements and Spatial Planning, Special Issue 1, 27-42. URL: https://geografie.ubbcluj.ro/ccau/jssp/arhiva_si1_2012/03JSSPSI012012.pdf

Abstract. At the end of the year 2010, forest and other forest land in Romania totalled 6,757.6 million ha, making up a share of 28.3% of the total land area of the country, ranking at the 17th place in the EU-27, 8.0% below the EU average. Considering that about 200-250 years ago, 40% of the current area of Romania was covered by forests and that, during the early Middle Ages, the proportion was of approx. 70%, we realise that the deforestation process has been constant and continuous, being driven by the need to capitalise significant sources of income, both for development and for consumption, but especially for enrichment purposes, due to the excessive exploitative policies of empires that exerted influence over Romania (the Ottoman, Tsarist and Habsburg), major war powers (Germany and the Soviet Union) or irresponsible regimes (the communist and post-1989 ones). Since the late 19th century the ongoing process of deforestation and expansion of low forest cover has urgently triggered demands for the adoption of an energetic national strategy, to stop the irrational exploitation of forests, to eradicate illegal logging and to identify agricultural and non-agricultural land areas suitable for afforestation, aiming to restore the balance of biodiversity among agriculture, forestry and wetlands, at national level.

K e y w o r d s: forest land, forest, afforestation rate, perspectives