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RELEASE OF CARBON STORED IN WOODS OFSERBIA DUE TO VARIOUS FORMS OFDEGRADATIONUroš Radojević, Mirjana Aranđelović, Ana Poštić,Margareta Žarkov KovačevićFaculty of Applied Ecology Futura, Singidunum UniversityAbstract: Today, Serbia can be characterized as a medium forestedcountry since around 301% of its territory is covered by forests.However, the area covered by forests was much larger once. Theincrease in population, in the 19 century was followed by increase inagricultural land, and that led to deforestation. By half of 20 thcentury, two thirds of forests in Serbia were destroyed, and much ofremaining forests suffered some form of degradation. Even though,since 1953 there is a gradual increase in area covered by forests,there are still many forms of degradation which affect the forests inSerbia. The most common forms of degradation in forests of Serbiaare plant diseases, insects, bad weather, forest cutting and forestfires.There is no need to emphasize the great importance andbenefits of forests. Besides the usual values, such as, oxygenproduction, source of valuable resources, impact on water cycle,impact on microclimate, soil protection, habitat for animals andother values, today, specially because of climate change, forests aremore and more regarded in context of their importance in the carboncycle. Forests have a large capacity to accumulate carbon, but alsoto release this stored carbon. Degradation and destruction of forestscauses the release of carbon stored in the forest ecosystems, whichthen leads to the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere andinfluence climate change. The goal of this paper is to show how thecurrent forms of forest degradation, which are present in Serbia,influence the release of carbon stored in forests of Serbia.Key words: forest/ degradation/ carbon/ climate change~ 206 ~