Mountain wood-pastures and forest cover loss in Romania

Currently, land cover changes occur in wood-pastures all over Europe driven by abandonment of traditional farming, as well as by management and policy changes. Based on reviewing of official documents, semi-structured interviews and one case study we examined how policies and governance settings for mountain wood-pastures have led to forest cover loss in Romania. In general, wood-pastures are formal agricultural land-use areas subjected to both agriculture and forest policies. A dense tree cover and less strict forestry rules than those for formal forests contributed to the increased vulnerability of mountain wood-pastures towards tree cover loss. Additionally, under the European agricultural regulations, areas covered by trees and shrubs are not subsidized, likely leading to tree cover loss resulting from the clearing of these areas. This paper contributes to the larger discussion about widespread post-communist land cover changes in Europe, by emphasizing the magnitude of this phenomenon in mountain wood-pastures in Romania.