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Carbon implications of forest restitution in post-socialist Romania
Pontus
Olofsson, Boston University, olofsson@bu.edu
(Presenter)
The collapse of socialism in 1989 triggered a phase of institutional restructuring in the former Eastern Bloc. Many countries decided to privatize forests and/or return them to pre-socialist owners. In this study, we assess the implications of forest restitution on the terrestrial carbon balance. New forest owners have strong economic incentives to clearcut their forests, resulting in increased terrestrial carbon emissions. On the other hand, logging has 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 country of Romania using Landsat satellite images from 1990 to 2010. Together with historical records of logging rates and changes in forest cover, we use our satellite estimates to parameterize a carbon book-keeping model to estimate the terrestrial carbon flux (above- and below-ground) as a consequence of land use change and forest harvest. High logging rates prior to 1989 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 +- 5,397 ha/y in 2000 to 23,884 +- 11,510 ha/y in 2010). The rates are still remained lower than prior to 1989 though. Romania remains a terrestrial carbon sink, currently 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. Presentation Type: Poster Session: Other (Tue 11:30 AM) Associated Project(s):
Poster Location ID: 271
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