... one-third of all European vascular plant species can be found in the Carpathians? That means almost 4,000 plant species, and 481 of them are found only in the Carpathians!
… Gerlachovsky Peak (2,655 m altitude) in the High Tatras in Slovak Republic is the highest peak of the Carpathians?
… the European Union’s largest populations of brown bears, wolves, lynx, European bisons and imperial eagles (globally threatened species) are found in the Carpathians?
… 36 national parks, 51 nature parks and protected landscape areas, 19 biosphere reserves and 200 other protected areas are member of the Carpathian Network of Protected areas
… there are 36 registered UNESCO World Heritage sites and 49 important pilgrimage destinations in the Carpathian area?
… the number of hotels in the Carpathians has increased by nearly 60% in the last ten years?
… the Carpathians contain the continent's largest remaining natural mountain beech and beech/coniferous forest ecosystems and the largest area of pristine forest in Europe (outside Russia)?
... the Carpathians are the largest, most twisted and fragmented mountain chain in Europe? They are Europe’s largest mountains by area.
… in the 1970’s, about 1,000,000 people worked in the mining sector in the Carpathians? Today, the number of employees in this sector is about 340,000.
… the Carpathians were put on the WWF ‘Global 200’ list of major ecoregions in need of biodiversity and habitat conservation?
… more than half of the Carpathians are covered by forests? The Carpathian forests are a vital link between the forests of the north and those of the west and south-west of Europe.
Next meeting of the WG Forest will be organized together with a EUSDR Priority Area 2 - Sustainable Energy (PA2) "Workshop on balancing bioenergy production and sustainable forest management in Mountain Areas", which will be an integral part of our Working Group meeting.
The main objective of the WG Forest meeting is completion of the inventory of Virgin Forest in the Carpathians, while the PA2 Workshop will focus on concerns and recommendations on how to achieve a socially and environmentally sustainable climate and energy policy associated with bioenergy production in mountain areas of the Danube/Carpathian Region and open the debate about increasing demand for bioenergy production and the question on how this demand can be met in a sustainable way.
BACKGROUND DOCUEMTNS RELATED TO WG FOREST:
New!
Information relevant for discussion on natural forests provided by the Czech Forest Management Institute
Forest Naturalness Assessment in the Czech Republic (document where the evaluation criteria and the evaluation method are presented)
Forest Naturalness Assessment in the Czech Republic and its using in policy and management (poster where definitions of degrees of naturalness are given)
Integrative approaches as an opportunity for conservation of forest biodiversity (relevant information chapter 1.4)
RELATED ARTICLES:
If we burn wood for energy, we can’t have our cake and eat it
OUTCOMES OF THE CARPATHIAN PROJECT WITH REFERENCE TO FORESTS IN THE REGION:
PRESENTATIONS FROM THE WG FOREST MEETING
PRESENTATIONS FROM THE PA2 WORKSHOP
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