European forests and protected areas: gap analysis. (Technical report)

76 Pages·2000·1.7 MB·English

by  UNEP-WCMC

/
European Forests and Protected Areas:
Gap Analysis
TECHNICAL REPORT
Compiledbythe
UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Cambridge, UK.
July2000
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t^r
UNEP WCI MC WWF

European Forests and Protected Areas:
Gap
Analysis
TECHNICAL REPORT
Compiled by the
UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre
Cambridge, UK.
Editors: Gemma Smith and Harriet Gillett
With support from
World Wide FundforNature
July 2000
m
WCMC WWF
UNEP
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2010 with funding from
UNEP-WCIVIC, Cambridge
http://www.archive.org/details/europeanforestspOOunep
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2
1.INTRODUCTION 3
1.1 ProjectOBJECTIVES 3
METHODOLOGY
2. 4
2.1 StudyAREA 4
2.2 ForestData 5
2.2.1 Potentialforestcover 5
2.2.2 Currentforestcover 5
2.2.3Productionofdetailedmapofcurrentforestcover 7
2.3 ProtectedAreasData 8
2.4Analyses 10
2.4.1 Datapreparationandprocedure 10
2.4.2Sizeanalyses 10
3. RESULTS 12
3.1 AnalysisBYcountry 12
3.1.1Forestextent 12
3.1.2Forestloss 13
3.1.3Forestprotection 14
3.1.4Forestdiversity 15
3.2AnalysisbySPECIFICForestType(B&N66) 15
3.2.1 Potentialandcurrentforestcover 15
3.2.2Forestloss 17
3.2.3Forestprotection 18
3.3 ANALYSISBYGENERALISED FORESTTYPE(B&N20) 18
3.3.1 Potentialandcurrentforestcover 18
3.3.2Forestloss 20
3.3.3Forestprotection 22
3.4 Sizeanddistributionofprotectedforestareas 23
3.4.1 Size 23
3.4.2Distribution 24
4.DISCUSSION 24
5.CONCLUSIONANDRECOMMENDATIONS 25
REFERENCES 27
MAP SIMPLIFIED FORESTCOVER
1:
ANNEX FORESTDATASOURCES
1:
ANNEX PROTECTEDAREADATASOURCES
3:
ANNEX4: lUCN PROTECTEDAREAMANAGEMENTCATEGORIESI-VI
ANNEX FORESTCOVERBYCOUNTRY
5:
ANNEX: 6CONTENTSOFTHE CD-ROM

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Many agencies and individuals responsible for managing protected area and forest
A
data have contributed vital datasets to this study. full list of these contributors is
included in Annexes 1 and 3 ofthis document. The willingness ofthese contributors
to provide data and comments is greatly appreciated. Thanks are due in particular to
Dr. Udo Bohn (Bundesamt fur Naturschutz) for permission to use the Natural
Vegetation Map ofEurope (1994), which underpins the entire study.
Funded by the World Wide Fund forNature (WWF-Intemational) under its European
Forest Programme, this project follows on from an earlier pilot study undertaken by
the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) Feasibility Study: GapAnalysis
ofForest Protected Areas in Europe, completed in November 1995. The terms of
reference for this current study were discussed and agreed by Dr Michael Green
(WCMC) and Per Rosenberg (WWF-hitemational) in 1997.
The project was managed by Harriet Gillett (WCMC) working with many staff at
WCMC. Corinna Ravilious was responsible for managing the forest vegetation data,
under the guidance ofDr Valerie Kapos. Simon Blyth was responsible for managing
protected areas boundarydata, with input from Javier Beltran, and Balzhan Zhimbiev.
Igor Lysenko was responsible for managing the development of protected area
datasets for Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus. Jonathan Rhind provided GIS technical
supervision. Corinna Ravihous was responsible for the digital overlays ofhabitat and
protected area data and the production of the underlying statistics. Simon Blyth
completed the analysis on the number and size ofprotected forest areas and produced
the final maps with support from Ian May. Gemma Smith produced the tables and
figures included in the report and developed the user-fHendly Excel file included on
the CD-ROM (see below), under the guidance of Gerardo Fragoso. Edward Coney
helped produce the final figures. Julie Reay and Lise Jackson were responsible for
project administration. The final text was written by Gemma Smith and Harriet
Gillett.
(WWF
The project was managed in close collaboration with Harri Karjalainen
International). Draft outputs of habitat and protected area maps were circulated to
WWF national officers for review, and project progress was discussed at WWF
European Forest Team meetings in 1998 (Latvia), January and September 1999
(Switzeriand and Komi, Russia) and March 2000 (Switzerland).
CD-ROM
This document is accompanied by a CD-ROM that contains electronic outputs from
the study. More specifically it contains an electronic copy ofthis report, an Excel file
with original data from the digital overlay; summary stafistics by country and forest
type and gif-file maps ofpotential forest cover, current forest cover, and protected
areas, that can be viewed as single or multiple layers. Forest cover maps were
produced by Corinna Ravilious; protected area maps were produced by Simon Blyth
and the CD-ROM was created by Phil Fox. The contents of the CD-ROM are also
available onthe internet at: http://www.unep-wcmc.org/forest/eu gap
European Forests andProtectedAreas: GapAnalysis
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This gap analysis offorest protected areas in Europe was designed to provide relevant
information on the distribution and conservation status ofEuropean temperate forests,
in support of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy and in
particularWWF's Forest Strategy for Europe.
Digital pan-European forest cover maps of potential and current forest cover were
compiled together with a digital map ofEurope's protected areas. Digital overlays of
these data were undertaken and statistics produced indicating the current state of
protection ofdiffering forest types, in respect to the location of these forests within
legally gazetted areas.
The study indicates that 56% of Europe's forest has already been lost. Europe's
potential forest cover was 7,395,440 km^ and current forest cover is 3,255,680 km'.
Ofthis, 204,996 km^ (6.3%) lie within protected areas (lUCN management categories
I-IV).
The analyses were undertaken by country and by forest type at complex (66 forest
types) and simplified (20 forest types) levels. At a national level forest protection (as
aproportion ofcurrent forest cover) ranges from 11.7% in Belarus to less than 1 % in
relatively large countries such as Bosnia Herzegovina (0.8%)), United Kingdom
(0.6%) and Belgium (0.2%).
The analysis ofcurrent forest cover using a simplified forest classification system (20
categories), found that forestprotection varies ft-om < 0.5% for spruce woodland amid
hygrophilousbirch tundra, to 18.5% forconifer forests inmires and bogs.
An indication ofthe wilderness qualityofEuropean forests is given by the analyses of
protected forest by forest size. This shows that rather few (329) relatively large
(>10,000 ha') sites account for 67% ofEurope's protected forests. Conversely, 95%)
ofEurope's protected forest areas comprise fragments ofless than l,000ha. Together
these fragments protect less than 10% ofEurope's forests. Forty-five ofthe 50 largest
protected forest areas occur in the Russian Federation and Fennoscandia, accounting
to a large extent for the much greater proportion ofEurope's protected forest that is
found in northernEurope, comparedto that found inthe south.
Full details of the analyses and a series of maps illustrating the distribution of
CD-ROM
potential and current forest cover and protected areas are included in the
that accompanies this report.
km"= 100hectares
INTRODUCTION
1.
Many of the world's temperate forests exist in some of the wealthiest developed
countries, where there is a tradition of forest protection and research. Paradoxically,
public awareness and debate on forest conservation has focused almost exclusivelyon
tropical forests and their highly diverse flora and fauna, while the protection of
temperate forests and their equally important, albeit fewer, species has received much
less attention (WWF, 1992).
In 1998 total global forest cover amounted to 38,966,548 km^ (Commonwealth of
Australia, 1999) ofwhich 8.23% was protected under lUCN management categories
I-VI. At a regional level, data available in 1996 indicated that 8% of European
temperate forests (excluding Russia), lay within protected areas (lUCN categories I-
VI) (Iremongeretal. 1997).
In Europe, temperate forests are often highly fragmented, threatened ecosystems. An
urgent need for geo-referenced information on the region's forests and protected areas
was identified by Luxmoore and Drucker (1994), to provide the basis of a regional
gap analysis and recovery plan for forests. Subsequently a project entitled Feasibility
study: Gap Analysis ofForest Protected Areas in Europe, was undertaken by the
WWF
World Conservation Monitoring Centre on behalfof (WCMC, 1995), assessing
the availability ofrelevant forest protected areas information. Following on from this
a second phase oftheproject was agreed in 1997.
This current gap analysis forms the second phase of the project. It is designed to
provide information on the distribution and conservation status ofEuropean temperate
forests, in relation to potential and current forest cover. The project supports the Pan-
European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy and more specifically WWF's
Forest Strategy for Europe. In particular, information on the conservation status of
different forest types will support implementation of Action Theme 9 on Forest
Ecosystems ofthe Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy.
Gap analysis, in the sense used in this project, involves overlaying information on the
distribution of forests with information on the distribution of protected areas, to
identify the level ofofficial protection afforded to differing forest types. Like other
rapid appraisal methodologies, it should not be viewed as a substitute for full
biological inventories, but as a coarse indicator ofgaps. Such information is vital to
policy-makers and planners in developing a European-wide network of ecologically
representativeprotected forests.
PROJECT OBJECTIVES
1.1
The objectives ofthisprojectwere as follows:
• To compile a digital pan-European forest cover map, classified, harmonised and at
sufficientlyhigh resolution for analysis at national andregional scales.
• To compile adigital map ofEuropeanprotected areas
European Forests andProtectedAreas: GapAnalysis
• To assess quantitatively the extent of protection of forest types in relation to
original and present forest cover and forested wilderness in Europe and identify
major gaps in theirprotection.
• To identifyregional priorities forconservation action and applythem within a
national context.
METHODOLOGY
2.
STUDYAREA
2.1
The countries that constitute Europe are not easily defined, as the region is contiguous
with Asia and continues to undergo political change. Table 1 lists the 45 European
countries that were selected to be included in this study. They cover the region
between the Atlantic Ocean and the Ural Mountains, and extend as far south as
southern Greece and northwards to the Barents Sea.
Table 1. European countries included in the study.
Albania Greece Poland
Andorra Hungary Portugal
Austria Iceland Romania
Belgium Ireland Russian Federation
Belarus Italy San Marino
BosniaHerzegovina Latvia Serbia
Bulgaria Liechtenstein Slovakia
Croatia Lithuania Slovenia
Czech Republic Luxembourg Spain
Denmark FYROM Sweden
Estonia Malta Switzerland
Finland Monaco Ukraine
France Moldova United Kingdom
Germany Netherlands
Georgia Norway