School of Geography and the Environment

Community forests and small-scale forestry in Romania

In common with other former-Soviet countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Romania initiated a process of restitution (return of state-appropriated property to pre-communist owners) soon after the restoration of democracy. The case of restitution of forests is notoriously problematic and controversial. In Romania, a first round was approved by law in 1991, returning 1 ha of forest to each legal heir of pre-WW2 individual owners. This added up to a bout 350,000 ha, or 5 percent of Romania's total forest area. Under the new (2000) law, up to 10 hectares are being restituted to individuals, up to 30 hectares to churches, and all forests are being restituted to communities, returning a total of about half of the total forest area in Romania.

Reactions to the 1991 experience were largely negative, particularly with respect to the consequences for the forest resource. At the same time, forestry academics recognise that the impact of the first phase of restitution varied from one region to another, leading to many illegal fellings in some places but not in others. In response, the law has been adjusted to require management plans. Crucially, these 'must be drawn up by authorized organizations or management planning companies in cooperation with the forest owners.' In some cases, the state forestry commission (Romsilva) has taken responsibility for this, in others a new profession of private forester has grown up in response to the need for advice and technical services.

Social outcomes of forest restitution, on the other hand, have been little discussed. They may include sudden unexpected wealth; increased social inequity in rural communities; strengthened cultural identity and sense of place; renewed respect for traditional rural knowledge and practices; enhanced community organisation and relations with bureaucrats; chaos, confusion and disappointment. And the contextual causes of ecological and social impact are also neglected; outcomes may be affected by community coherence, the condition of the resource at the time of handover, local understanding of legal rights and responsibilities, market knowledge and access, cultural strength, history of land tenure (some forest areas were not nationalised, and have not lost the continuity of knowledge), and relations between community and forestry services, whether private or state-provider. All of these factors were mentioned by state foresters, villagers and academics during a pilot visit to Romania in April 04, yet the academic literature is silent on the causes, processes and implications of the restitution process. NGO and EU policy literature including newsletters and websites expresses a range of concern about the environmental implications, but a thorough search of literature (academic, popular and policy documents) produces nothing on the social and cultural implications.

This research will use case studies and in-depth interviews to explore with communities and foresters their experiences and perceptions of forest restitution and its impact on ecology, livelihoods, community and institutions.

Contacts

For further details contact either: Anna Lawrence or Alina Szabo