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Human Geography

Ann-Katrin Bäcklund

Senior Lecturer

Human Geography

Exploring the Sustainability of Estonian Forestry: The Socioeconomic Drivers

Author

  • Evelin Urbel
  • Ann-Katrin Bäcklund

Summary, in English

Forestry as an important industry has both direct as well as indirect effects on the Estonian economy. It is therefore essential that it is sustainably managed so that it can continue to contribute to the economy in the future. The first aim of this article is to establish the situation regarding felling and regeneration in Estonia. As the available forestry statistics display discrepancies and lack consistency, it was as a necessary first step to gather information about and analyze the validity and reliability of the prime data to make the data sets useful for comparison over time and establish the current trends in Estonian forestry. However, with the help of interviews we are able to show that economic instability in Estonia brings with it increased logging rates and hinders investments into regeneration and maintenance. The problems are particularly pronounced in private forestry. Second, the article seeks to explain the socioeconomic reasons behind this situation. Economic problems among private owners, a liberal forestry policy, together with rapid land reform and weak enforcement of forestry legislation are some of the reasons that can explain the forestry trends in Estonia.

Department/s

  • LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
  • Department of Human Geography

Publishing year

2009

Language

English

Pages

101-108

Publication/Series

Ambio: a Journal of Human Environment

Volume

38

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Human Geography
  • Social Sciences Interdisciplinary

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 0044-7447