important plant areas in central and eastern europe - hirc.botanic.hr ...

Section 6Forests and forestryForests are key habitats for the conservation of many rare plant, fungi, moss and lichenspecies. Europe has a wide diversity of forest types from the expanses of conifer forestsin the north and the Baltic, to the unbroken belts of oak-beech and beech-spruceforests of central Europe and the species rich deciduous and mixed forests of southernEurope. Some of the forests of southern Europe were not affected by glaciation andhave forest compositions that have existed for many thousands of years. Old growthforests, areas where there has been little or no human activity for over one hundredyears, are extremely species rich.They are increasingly rare and these few remainingareas should be prioritised for protection. Sustainable management should be appliedalso in forests that are commercially exploited.Several million people are employed in the forestry industry in Europe today, andforestry is an important economic sector.There is an urgent need to find a sustainablebalance between the needs of economic forestry and the need to conserve Europe’sforest heritage for the future.Threatened forest habitatsThe EU Habitats Directive recognises 65 threatened forest habitats and the Council ofEurope, Bern Convention recognises 109 threatened forest habitats, such as the Alvarforests of Estonia, flood plain forest, beech forests and Scots pine forests. Many ofEurope’s rarest tree species are listed in the World List of Threatened Trees.The most important impacts of human activity on forest biodiversity are:• Clearing old growth and deciduous forest and replacing them with plantations ofexotic and coniferous species.• Harvesting of trees before they reach maturity, which results in a decrease in thenumber of species associated with old and decaying trees.• Clearing of alluvial forests for agriculture and plantations of fast growing hybridpoplars, and changing the hydrological systems of swamp forests• Modifying the species composition of existing forests and creating formations that donot occur naturally• Draining of peat soils and humid forests to accelerate forest growth• Constructing timber road networks in wilderness areas• Reforestation of abandoned agricultural land and formerly grazed environmentsQuality not quantity: afforestation in EuropeThe area of forest in Europe is increasing, partly through afforestation programmes cofinancedby the EU (1 million hectares since 1991), but also through natural regenerationon agricultural and formerly grazed land. Although this is generally viewed as a positivetrend, there are concerns for plant conservation.• In afforestation projects, the preference for conifers over deciduous trees, and exoticover indigenous species, has a negative effect on biodiversity• The rise in forest area conceals the fact that many of the last old growth forests inEurope are still threatened with deforestation and replacement with plantations• Afforestation projects often occur on key natural and semi-natural open and grasslandhabitats.All afforestation programmes should be subject to thorough and effective environmentalimpact assessments to ensure that Europe’s most valuable forests are not lost in thenumbers game of quantity rather than quality.84