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FUTURE IMPERFECT
Figure 15:
Forest cover change in the Western Car-
pathians Beskids Mountains between 1994 and 2010
evaluated using satellite imagery. Red-coloured areas
indicate changes in forest cover due to felling of trees
infested by bark beetles.The brown square to the right
indicates region’s position in the Carpathians (source:
CarpathCC).
Figure 16:
Vulnerability of Carpathians forests to
climate change evaluated in the frame of geomor-
phologic units on the basis of several indicators of
climatic exposure, forest climatic sensitivity and so-
cial-economic adaptive capacity (source: CarpathCC).
Compensation schemes offer incentives in ex-
change for better land management. In a “Pay-
ment for ecosystem services” (PES) scheme com-
pensation payments are tied to measures that
provide ecological services. In forestry one such
measure is to reduce the share of spruce and
increase planting of fir, larch and mountain syca-
more. Prolonging cutting intervals is another exam-
ple. These measures strengthen forest resilience
and protect against pest outbreaks triggered by ex-
treme weather. In addition, incentives are created
to reduce over exploitation and illegal logging.
Adaptation Action: A Compensation Scheme for Forest Protection
Carpathian forests face a range of pressures in-
cluding over exploitation through logging. The
absence of an equitable system of compensa-
tion payments encourages local forest owners to
overcut. Compensation for harvesting restrictions
within private forests would create an incentive
for owners to reduce harvesting. Payment for
ecosystem services has been discussed in the
Rodna-Maramureş region. As financial resources
are limited, it was advised to give implementation
priority to Protected Areas. In Rodna about 40% of
the total of 23,000 hectares of forest is protected.
An extended cutting regime leads to adaptation of forest structure
(source: CarpathCC Project presentation)