Why it is important?

Forestry is one of the main pillars of economic and cultural life and tradition in the Carpathians. Much of the Carpathian range is covered by vast areas of forests (nearly 60% on average, but the percentage varies significantly among countries and areas). The largest forest complexes are in the Eastern Carpathians, while in the Western and South, substantial areas were deforested and converted to other land uses.

In the second half of the 20^th century forests were owned and managed by the state. At the beginning of the 1990s, most of the Carpathian countries changed the ownership structure of forest land by recognising private ownership right. Re-privatisation introduced new problems in sustainable forest management such as the lack of forestry skills of the new owners and the need for new incentives to ensure that economic self-interest of the owners takes into account conservation.

Article 7 of the Carpathian Convention asks the parties to support the use of forest management instruments and programmes in accordance with the sustainable forest management principles formulated at the international level