School of Geography and the Environment

Forest restitution in transition countries: impacts on communities - Workshop, September 2006

This workshop was aimed at sharing our findings, learning from others conducting research on similar themes, and developing recommendations for both policy and future research. research results and developing policy implications in this field and was held at Comana, Romania, 19-20 September 2006.

Context

Most of the transition states in Central and Eastern Europe initiated a process of forest restitution soon after the fall of former communist regimes. Whilst the policy, legal and technical aspects have been discussed extensively in the literature and media, much less attention has been paid to social outcomes. The impact of restitution can include changes in assets and income; social equity in rural communities; cultural identity and respect for traditional rural knowledge and practices; community organisation and relations with officials. Outcomes are affected by context, including pre-existing community coherence, the condition of the resource, local understanding of legal rights and responsibilities, market knowledge and access, cultural strength, history of land tenure, and relations between community and forestry services.