Loss of natural forests and forest degradation

In the Baltic States and western part of the Former Soviet Union (FSU), most deforestation from felling took place in the first half of the 20th century. After World War II, enormous reforestation programmes were carried out alongside industrial logging. In the Russian Federation, there has been a sharp decline in the extraction of forest products in recent years linked to the general decline of industry throughout the FSU. In the late 1990s, total removals amounted to only between one-quarter and one-third of the amounts extracted in the 1970s and 1980s (FAO 2001a).

Change in forested land 1990-2000 by sub-region: Europe
	total land area (million ha)	total forest 1990 (million ha)	total forest 2000 (million ha)	% of land forested in 2000	change 1990-2000 (million ha)	% change per year
Central Europe	209.3	48.9	50.3	24.0	1.3	0.3
Eastern Europe	1 789.3	870.7	875.1	48.9	4.4	0.0
Western Europe	360.8	122.4	125.9	34.9	3.6	0.4
Europe	2 359.4	1 042.0	1 051.3	44.6	9.3	0.1
Source: compiled from FAO 2001a Note: numbers may not add due to rounding

Significant areas of forest were nationalized as early as 1918 in the FSU and in the 1950s in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and protected categories of forest were established (OECD and World Bank 1993). With increasing poverty in these countries and a loss of traditional communist era livelihoods, protected areas and forests in CEE are now under pressure from illegal tree felling which, in some places, has pushed some rare species to the brink of extinction. An increasing trend towards privatization in many countries since 1990 is also reducing the area of protected forest (EEA 1995), although vast forested lands in the Komi Republic and the Lake Baikal basin have recently been designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, effectively halting planned major logging operations (RFSCEP 2000).

Significant forest degradation has been caused by industrial pollution. Vast tracts of forests in CEE still suffer the lingering consequences of acidification, although SO₂ emissions and 'acid rain' have been reduced (see 'Atmosphere' section) and the deteriorating situation appears to have stabilized (EEA 1997 and UNECE and EC 2000). Degraded forests are found in the Russian Federation around industrial centres in the Urals, the Kola Peninsula and Siberia, with more than 500 000 ha damaged in the Siberian region of Norilsk alone (Mnatsikanian 1992). Chernobyl affected about 1 million ha of forests in the Russian Federation as well as large areas in Belarus and Ukraine. They will be excluded from use and public access for the foreseeable future (FAO 2001a).

In the mid-1990s, large areas of forests were lost in the Russian Federation from causes other than logging. Insects were responsible for 46 per cent of the damage, forest fires 33 per cent and unfavourable weather 16 per cent (MoNP Russian Federation 1996). The future of the Russian Federation's 850 million ha of temperate and boreal forests (22 per cent of the world's total and the largest forest area in any one country) is important not just for the country but for the entire region because of its role as a carbon sink (see 'Polar Regions'). All forests in the Russian Federation are state owned and are divided into three groups for management purposes (see table).

Managing the world's most extensive forests: forest estate in the Russian Federation
GROUP I Protection forests	GROUP II Multipurpose forests	GROUP III Forests for commercial use
21 per cent of total forest area	6 per cent of total forest area	73 per cent of total forest area
Strict felling regimes	Harvesting restricted to amount of annual growth	Clear cutting allowed
Changes in proportion of forest area 1966-88:
increasing	increasing	decreasing
Source: FAO (2001a)

Forest clearance for agricultural land, terracing and the creation of fruit orchards has had adverse consequences on the environment and biodiversity in southeastern Europe, especially Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Macedonia. Forest ecosystems, particularly those close to rural settlements, have been significantly degraded due to overexploitation for fuelwood and overgrazing (REC 2000). The severe energy crisis in the mid-1990s in Armenia and Georgia also caused illegal logging on a large scale for home heating and cooking (Radvadnyi and Beroutchachvili 1999). The affected forests include oak and other tree stands which are characterized by high biological diversity in comparison with other types of forests.The harvesting of coastal shrubs and forests has also created problems, especially for birds, which use these habitats for nesting (REC 2000).

Around the Mediterranean, forests have been degraded since historic times, from overgrazing and wood removal, and little undisturbed forest now remains (FAO 2001a). Fire is one of the great enemies of Mediterranean wooded areas due to the climatic conditions (dry air and strong winds) and the combustibility of the plant cover; it is estimated that on average 500 000 ha are burned each year. The fires are almost always caused by humans: in traditional herding areas, 'pastoral fires' are still frequent, especially in scrubland, while elsewhere the majority are due to negligence rather than criminal intent. The number of fires rises rapidly in dry years, especially in tourist areas.