Conflicts between human activities and the conservation of

1,15
MB biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, grasslands, forests,

102
stron wetlands and uplands in the Acceding and Candidate Countries

(ACC)

6243
ID Centre for Ecology and Hydrology

2004
rok

CONTENTS:

1. Executive summary. 1

2. Introduction 8

2.1 The BIOFORUM project and its objectives. 8

2.2 Conflicts and the scope of BIOFORUM 8

2.3 Report format 9

3. Agricultural Landscapes 10

3.1. Foreword 10

3.2. Introduction . 10

3.3. Description of conflicts. 11

3.3.1. Intensification of agriculture . 11

3.3.2. Abandonment of agriculture 13

3.3.3. Changes in scale and organisation of agriculture. 14

3.4. Conflict resolution 14

3.4.1. Resolution strategies. 14

3.5. Indicators and monitoring . 15

3.6. Discussion and conclusions . 16

3.7. Case studies . 16

3.7.1. Energy-stands in abandoned fields and wastelands . 16

3.7.2. Land use and related problems in Lithuania . 17

3.7.3. Soil erosion in Troyan, Bulgaria 18

3.7.4. Local Breeds in Bulgaria 19

4. Grasslands 21

4.1. Introduction . 21

4.2. Identification of conflicts 22

4.3. Conflicts description . 23

4.3.1 Intensification. 23

4.3.2 Abandonment . 24

4.3.3. Management methods. 25

4.3.4. Development . 26

4.3.5. Spatial planning . 26

4.3.6 Tourism and recreation 27

4.3.7. Different conservation priorities 27

4.4. Conflicts resolution strategies 28

4.4.1 Guidelines 28

4.4.2. Monitoring and indicators. 32

4.5. Discussion . 33

4.6. Case studies . 34

4.6.1 Abandonment in Slovenia 34

4.6.2 Tourism & artificial snowing in Poland 34

4.6.3. Different conservation priorities in Vahenurme, Estonia . 35

5. Forests 36

5.1. Foreword 36

5.2. Introduction . 36

5.3 Changes of forestry practice in ACC countries 36

5.3.1 Brief overview of forest cover history in Europe . 36

5.3.2. Great changes in the last century. 38

5.4. Issues leading to conflicts . 43

5.4.1. Different definitions of forests 43

5.4.2. Changes in ownership and legal framework . 44

5.4.3. Changes in forestry practice 45

5.4.4. Alternative (non-wood) use of forests 45

5.4.5. Forests and environmental protection 45

5.4.6. Effects of other activities 46

5.4.7. Poor knowledge of forest resources and biodiversity. 46

5.5. Conflict resolution 46

5.6. Monitoring strategies 47

5.7. Discussion and conclusions . 48

5.8. Case studies of biodiversity conflicts and their resolution in forests . 48

5.8.1. Historic experience on sustainable development of forestry in Slovakia - a measure to avoid

conflicts. 48

5.8.2. Alien species in Bialowieza forest. 49

5.8.3. Use of non-wood forest resources in Bulgaria 51

5.8.4. Conflict prevention and management in Estonian state forests. 54

6. Inland aquatic habitats. 57

6.1. Introduction . 57

6.2. Value of inland aquatic habitats. 58

6.3. Identification of conflicts 60

6.3.1. Ecosystem related conflicts (degradation of inland aquatic habitats) 60

6.3.2. Species related conflicts 64

6.4. Conflict resolution strategies . 66

6.5. Monitoring the conflict resolution process 67

6.6. Case studies . 68

6.6.1. Inner Danube Delta 68

6.6.2. Biebrza wetla nds area (Poland) . 69

6.6.3. The beaver as a factor for the re-naturalization of Lithuanian inland habitats 72

7. Uplands . 75

7.1. Introduction . 75

7.2. Identifying sources of conflicts 76

7.2.1 Agriculture . 76

7.2.2. Forestry. 77

7.2.3. Game hunting 78

7.2.4. Tourism. 78

7.3. Identifying resolution strategies. 79

7.3.1. Guidelines . 79

7.3.2. Agro-environmental measures and afforestation . 79

7.3.3. Legislation & Legislative Instruments . 79

7.4. Case studies . 81

7.4.1 The Sola river, (Upper Vistula, Poland): Conflict between river control and draining and

conservation of biodiversity . 81

7.4.2 Bieszczady Nationa l Park (Poland), East Carpathians Biosphere Reserve 81

7.4.3. The Blatov grassland (Czech Republic) . 82

7.4.4. Sinaia case study (Romania) . 83

7.4.5. Pirin National Park (Bulgaria). 83

7.4.6. Kresna Gorge (Bulgaria). 85

8. References and further reading. 88

9. Contributors . 93

10. Acknowledgements . 97