Project INTEGRAL - future-oriented integrated management of European forest landscapes: objectives and study specifics in Lithuanian case areas

Abstract

Problems identified in Telšiai case study area: ownership fragmentation and absence of forest owner cooperation; dissatisfaction with current forestland zoning by major public actors, stiff regulations, lack of cross-sectorial coordination and landscape consideration in afforestation. Barriers and drivers in Kazlų Rūda case study area: increasing local demand for roundwood, increasing demand for wood bioenergy wood; increasing top-down steering of state forest management = “conserving” current practices of state forestry; expected increasing demand for recreation and nature protection, also in commercial forests. Problems in Kazlų Rūda case study area: landowner conflicts environmental authorities: natural afforestation turns into forest with all it’s land use restrictions; municipality and state forest enterprise arguing over management of town forests; society vs. state forest enterprise: people want more recreation in the forest, but littering and destruction of recreational objects takes place; some private forest owners displeased by restrictions on their forest land use. Due to the aforementioned conditions and problems the research and future scenarios in Telšiai are focused on afforestation, land use changes and forest management restrictions due to nature protection and recreation, while in Kazlų Rūda the main focus is on forest management planning. Project INTEGRAL aims to reduce the conflict between multiple demands for forest goods and services and to provide with new policy and management approach that takes into consideration the sensitive issues of ecology, socio-economy and policy. The research in Lithuania is carried out in two case study areas that are different in territory planning, biophysical and social terms, but both has present or potential conflicts in aforementioned issues. Žemaitija case study area is selected regarding numerous share of private forests; presence of recreational and protected areas therefore pronounced restrictions on forest management; lots of abandoned agricultural land and consequently numerous natural and artificial afforestation. Kazlų Rūda case study area is dominated by state forests with the primarily production purpose, therefore wood industries are well developed and forest management is the main issue, still the area is interesting within the perspective of forest management planning. As INTEGRAL future scenarios largely rely on ecosystem goods and services (ES), barriers, drivers and present conflicts, the latter were determined for both case study areas using qualitative interviews of forest owners, managers and stakeholders, literature review and STEEP (in societal, technological, ecological, economical and political aspects) analysis. Barriers and drivers in Telšiai case study area: national forest policy setting rigid regulative framework (mainly barrier), increasing bureaucracy in state forestry (barrier), “soft” liberalisation in private forestry (potential driver); increase in forest area, driven by: natural afforestation of abandoned land and artificial afforestation due to sizeable EU subsidies; increasing demand of wood for bioenergy; increasing environmental focus by the public and environmental authorities; state of forests (species, age, calamities) perceived the main factor in taking management decisions.