Brief Glimpse to Lithuanian Forest Resources Dr. Albinas Tebėra Kaunas Forestry and Environmental Engineering University of Applied Sciences

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF LITHUANIA

FOREST AREA

Forests occupied 2.17 million ha in Lithuania Lithuania has a lot less forests to compare with Sweden, Finland, Spain, France, Germany, Norway, Ukraine, Belarus (each containing million ha of forests). Lithuanian forest area almost equal to the forest of United Kingdom, Serbia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Bosnia –Herzegovina and Slovakia. Lithuanian forest resources are more numerous than Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Switzerland, Albania, Belgium, Denmark, Montenegro, Netherlands.

FOREST MAP OF LITHUANIA

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF LITHUANIAN FORESTS Total growing stock volume – 489,8 million m³. Mean growing stock volume – 237 m³/ha Gross annual increment – 16.6 mill. m³ Gross annual increment – 8.0 m³/ha Forest coverage – 33.2% The average forest area per capita – 0.67 ha. The average growing stock volume per capita – 151 m 3. Forests distribution by functional groups: Group I (strict nature reserves) - 1.2%; Group II (ecosystem protection and recreational) %; Group III (protective) %; Group IV (commercial) %.

TREE SPECIOUS COMPOSITION The most part of forest (56.2%) in Lithuania consists of coniferous stands (dominated by pine). Stands of soft broadleaves occupy 39.7% of forest area and hard broadleaves - 4.1%.

Some European countries (Netherlands, Ireland, United Kingdom, Denmark) rapidly developing agriculture, until the XX century particularly destroyed their forests. Similar process took place in Lithuania also. However, forest coverage was still 20% in the middle of XX century. CHANGES OF FOREST AREA DURING CENTURIES

CHANGES OF FOREST COVERAGE IN LITHUANIA FROM THE XI CENTURY

In Europe forest area began to increase in the XX century. Forest area is increasing most rapidly in recent decades in Ireland, Spain, Denmark and Italy. Lithuania also belongs to those countries where forests are rapidly expanding. Over the past 20 years Lithuania's forest area has increased 215 thousand. ha i.e. even 11.1%. CHANGES OF FOREST AREA DURING LAST CENTURY

CHANGES OF FOREST AREA IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DURING LASTS DECADES Name of the state Forest area1000 ha Changes of the forest area in year % Ireland ,9 Spain ,5 Denmark ,2 Italy ,5 Greece ,3 Bulgaria ,0 Serbia ,3 Hungary ,7 Lithuania ,1

CHANGES OF FOREST AREA IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DURING LASTS DECADES Name of the state Forest area1000 ha Changes of the forest area in year % Belarus ,9 United Kingdom ,3 Norway ,2 France ,7 Macedonia ,4 Switzerland ,7 Cyprus ,5 Estonia ,1 Netherlands ,8

CHANGES OF FOREST AREA IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DURING LASTS DECADES Name of the state Forest area1000 ha Changes of the forest area in year % Latvia ,7 Slovenia ,5 Poland ,1 Ukraina ,6 Portugal ,9 Croatia ,8 Sweden ,4 Romania ,2 Germany ,1

CHANGES OF FOREST AREA IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DURING LASTS DECADES Name of the state Forest area1000 ha Changes of the forest area in year % Austria ,9 Finland ,2 Luxembourg86871,2 Czech Republic ,1 Slovakia ,6 Belgium ,1 Russia ,0 Montenegro543 0,0 Bosnia-Herzegovina ,1 Albania ,6

CHANGES OF FOREST AREA IN YEAR %

Changes in forest area are far worse in other continents. Only Asia and North America increase forest area by 2.8 and 0.3% over the past 20 years. Australian forest area decreased by 3.4%, in Oceania - 3.7%, South America - 8.7%, Africa %, while in Central America - even 24.2%. CHANGES OF FOREST AREA IN OTHER CONTINENTS DURING LASTS DECADES

The fastest declining forests in North Korea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Ghana, Honduras, Uganda, Niger, Burundi, Mauritania, Nigeria and Togo. Generally around the World forest cover decreased by 135 million ha - 3.2% from 1990 to CHANGES OF FOREST AREAS IN OTHER CONTINENTS DURING LASTS DECADES

LOGGING INTENSITY

Logging intensity of different countries varies greatly. It depends on many factors: forest resource structure, the geographical location of forests, national economy, the culture of forestry, public approach to forests. LOGGING INTENSITY

Logging intensity is very high in Portugal, India, Ireland during lasts years. Every year, these countries cut 4-7% of wood recourses. Belgium, Finland, Latvia, Sweden, United Kingdom cut 2.5 to 2.8% of wood recourses. LOGGING INTENSITY

Lithuania belongs to the countries in which logging intensity is low. Lithuania is cutting 1,5% of wood recourses every year. Similar logging intensity are in Poland, Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Estonia, Switzerland. LOGGING INTENSITY

LOGGING INTENSITY IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES Name of the state Round wood removals thous. m 3 /year Removals of fuel wood thous. m 3 /year Total growing stock volume mill. m 3 Logging intensity %/year. Portugal ,2 India ,6 Ireland ,9 Finland ,8 Belgium ,6 Latvia ,6 Sweden ,6 United Kingdom ,5 France ,4 Czech Republic ,4

LOGGING INTENSITY IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES Name of the state Round wood removals thous. m 3 /year Removals of fuel wood thous. m 3 /year Total growing stock volume mill. m 3 Logging intensity %/year. North Korea ,3 Germany ,2 Denmark ,1 Poland ,0 Spain ,9 Netherland ,8 Hungary ,8 Austria ,8 Slovakia ,7 Chile ,7

LOGGING INTENSITY IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES Name of the state Round wood removals thous. m 3 /year Removals of fuel wood thous. m 3 /year Total growing stock volume mill. m 3 Logging intensity %/year. Lithuania ,5 Estonia ,4 Switzerland ,4 USA ,1 Norway ,1 Croatia ,0 Greece ,0 Luxembourg ,9 Bulgaria ,9 Ukraine ,8

LOGGING INTENSITY IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES Name of the state Round wood removals thous. m 3 /year Removals of fuel wood thous. m 3 /year Total growing stock volume mill. m 3 Logging intensity %/year. Slovenia ,8 Italy ,7 Canada ,7 Argentina ,5 Belarus ,5 South Korea ,4 Albania ,3 Russia ,2 Brazil ,2 Georgia ,2

ROUND WOOD STRUCTURE

40-50 years ago for fuel wood was consumed % of the annual production of round wood in Lithuania. At present for fuel wood are consumed 21% of the annual production of round wood in Lithuania. Similar amount of fuel wood is consumed in Latvia, Switzerland, Germany and Austria at present. However, in different countries of the world, this figure varies in very wide range - from 1 to 90%. ROUND WOOD STRUCTURE

Name of the state Industrial round wood removals thous. m 3 /year Removals of fuel wood thous. m 3 /year Fuel wood % Ireland Canada United Kingdom Slovakia Portugal Luxembourg Czech Republic USA Finland Spain

ROUND WOOD STRUCTURE Name of the state Industrial round wood removals thous. m 3 /year Removals of fuel wood thous. m 3 /year Fuel wood % South Korea Poland Sweden Belgium Belarus Norway Latvia Lithuania Switzerland Germany

ROUND WOOD STRUCTURE Name of the state Industrial round wood removals thous. m 3 /year Removals of fuel wood thous. m 3 /year Fuel wood % Austria Estonia Slovenia Netherland Russia Croatia Chile Argentina Bosnia - Herzogovina Ukraine

ROUND WOOD STRUCTURE Name of the state Industrial round wood removals thous. m 3 /year Removals of fuel wood thous. m 3 /year Fuel wood % Bulgaria Hungary France Denmark Azerbaijan4450 Brazil Montenegro Greece Italy Makedonia

ROUND WOOD STRUCTURE Name of the state Industrial round wood removals thous. m 3 /year Removals of fuel wood thous. m 3 /year Fuel wood % North Korea India Georgia Albania Armenia Moldova

What are the prospect of Lithuanian forest logging?

Structure of Pine stands age Visi valstybinės reikšmės miškai III-IV miško grupės * Išjungti: žemo našumo (Va, b bonitetas) medynai ir medynai (nustatyti SMI) su įvairiais naudojimo apribojimais (KMB, saugomos lizdavietės, mokslinio tyrimo bareliai, paveldo objektas, etaloninis medynas ir kt.) Miško grupė Kirtimo amžius, m. (nuo) Brandžių medynų vidutinis amžius, m III IV Brandžių medynų plotas*: 2006 m. - 25,6 tūkst. ha 2000 m. – 18,8 tūkst. ha

Structure of Spruce stands age Brandžių medynų plotas*: 2006 m. – 41,1 tūkst. ha 2000 m. – 53,8 tūkst. ha Visi valstybinės reikšmės miškai III-IV miško grupės * Išjungti: žemo našumo (Va, b bonitetas) medynai ir medynai (nustatyti SMI) su įvairiais naudojimo apribojimais (KMB, saugomos lizdavietės, mokslinio tyrimo bareliai, paveldo objektas, etaloninis medynas ir kt.) Miško grupė Kirtimo amžius, m. (nuo) Brandžių medynų vidutinis amžius, m III IV

Structure of Birch stands age Brandžių medynų plotas*: 2006 m. – 48,0 tūkst. ha 2000 m. – 40,2 tūkst. ha Visi valstybinės reikšmės miškai III-IV miško grupės * Išjungti: žemo našumo (Va, b bonitetas) medynai ir medynai (nustatyti SMI) su įvairiais naudojimo apribojimais (KMB, saugomos lizdavietės, mokslinio tyrimo bareliai, paveldo objektas, etaloninis medynas ir kt.) Miško grupė Kirtimo amžius, m. (nuo) Brandžių medynų vidutinis amžius, m III IV 73

FOREST PRODUCTIVITY

Lithuanian forests are among the most productive worldwide. The mean growing stock volume m³/ha. According to this indicator Lithuanian forests are in ninth place in Europe and fourteenth in the World (out of 232 countries). FOREST PRODUCTIVITY

Position by forest productivity Name of state The mean growing stock volume m 3 /ha Total growing stock volume mill. m 3 1New Zealand French Guiana Switzerland Slovenia Germany Cameroon Luxembourg Austria Czech Republic Slovakia266514

FOREST PRODUCTIVITY Position by forest productivity Name of state The mean growing stock volume m 3 /ha Total growing stock volume mill. m 3 11 Ivory Coast Belgium Brazil Lithuania Congo Suriname Gabon Poland Ukraine Croatia213410

FOREST PRODUCTIVITY Position by forest productivity Name of state The mean growing stock volume m 3 /ha Total growing stock volume mill. m 3 21 Romania Estonia Denmark Netherlands Latvia Belarus Hungary Bulgaria France USA

FOREST PRODUCTIVITY Position by forest productivity Name of state The mean growing stock volume m 3 /ha Total growing stock volume mill. m 3 56Serbia Italy Montenegro United Kingdom Sweden Canada Ireland Russia Finland Norway98987

FOREST PRODUCTIVITY Position by forest productivity Name of state The mean growing stock volume m 3 /ha Total growing stock volume mill. m 3 95India China Portugal Cyprus Spain Greece47185

FOREST BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION

Lithuanian biodiversity consists of over: 20,000 animals, 6,000 fungi, 1,800 species of plants FOREST BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION

Primary forests are the best for biodiversity abundance. About one-third of the world's forests are classified as primary forests, but in Lithuania (as well as throughout Europe) they almost extinct. FOREST BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION

Lithuania - one of the few European Union countries, which has preserved large natural forest areas. Lithuania in natural forests are 3-5 times richer than many other EU countries. Natural forests in Lithuania take place of 500 thousand hectares of total forest area. FOREST BIODIVERSITY PROTECTION

FOREST AREA FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

FOREST FIRES

Forest fires on Earth has increased 10 times over the past 500 years. 400 thousand fires rise in our planet every year. They affect about 0.5 % of forest area. Fires affect on million hectares of forest every year in Europe. FOREST FIRES

Increasing of the number of fires linked to the Earth's population growth, mobility of people, intensifying industrial activities, global warming. FOREST FIRES

Statistics of forest fires collected from the 1919 in Lithuania. Earlier (80-90 year ago) fires were fewer, but burned large tracts of woodland. The average area per fire were about 34 ha Forest fires increased by 2.6 times during 90 year in Lithuania, however burned area decreased 7.5 times and area of one fire decreased 20 times. FOREST FIRES

This meant that from the middle of twentieth century Lithuania has created a good forest fire protection system, which created the prerequisites for localized fires in small areas and quickly extinguish them. FOREST FIRES

THE AVERAGE AREA OF FOREST FIRE IN LITHUANIA AND EU COUNTRIES ( )

FORESTRY SPECIALIST TRAINING

Currently, in the Lithuanian forestry sector there are about 9 thousand employees. Forest enterprises has about 3.8 thousand. employees. Of these, about 2 thousand specialists. The majority of these specialists have completed the required education in Lithuanian Agricultural University or in Kaunas Forestry and Environmental Engineering University of Applied Sciences. FORESTRY SPECIALIST TRAINING

LAU and KFEIUAS prepared annually 150 specialists, i.e., about specialists per million hectares of forests. More specialists are prepared in EU countries like Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Slovakia, Spain and others. Approximately the same number of specialists as in Lithuania are held in Poland, Switzerland, Latvia, the United Kingdom. FORESTRY SPECIALIST TRAINING

This number of trained specialists is enough (even too much) to organize forestry activities. The higher proportion (up to 100 specialists completing master's and bachelor's degree), is being prepared for LAU. In the last 50 years their number has increased about 3 times. KFEIUAS is preparing specialists annually. FORESTRY SPECIALIST TRAINING

THE NUMBER OF TRAINED FORESTRY SPECIALISTS (M. Sc., B. Sc, and Technicians), IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES (2010) Name of the state The number of trained specialists (total) Forest area 1000 ha Number of specialists per million hectares of forests Netherlands Ukraine Belgium China Czech Republic Denmark Republic of Korea Slovakia Spain Serbia

THE NUMBER OF TRAINED FORESTRY SPECIALISTS (M. Sc., B. Sc, and Technicians), IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES (2010) Name of the state The number of trained specialists (total) Forest area 1000 ha Number of specialists per million hectares of forests Bulgaria Romania Hungary Poland Switzerland Lithuania Latvia United Kingdom Belarus Ireland

THE NUMBER OF TRAINED FORESTRY SPECIALISTS (M. Sc., B. Sc, and Technicians), IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES (2010)) Name of the state The number of trained specialists (total) Forest area 1000 ha Number of specialists per million hectares of forests Italy Slovenia Estonia Portugal Croatia Japan Austria France Finland USA

THE NUMBER OF TRAINED FORESTRY SPECIALISTS (M. Sc., B. Sc, and Technicians), IN DIFFERENT COUNTRIES (2010) Name of the state The number of trained specialists (total) Forest area 1000 ha Number of specialists per million hectares of forests Russia Sweden Brazil Norway Argentina ,3

NUMBER OF LAU AND KFEIUAS GRADUATES m.

FORESTS MANAGEMENT

POLITICAL MANAGEMENT OF FORESTS Department of forests  Ministry of environment Department of forests (~ 20 employees) Determine forest policy National board of forestry  Ministry of environment National board of forestry (~ 170 employees) Carry out national forest inventory and create forest informational system, Control forestry activity of all forests, Investigate forest healthy and estimate way to improve it, Supervises forest seed orchards, supervises seed quality control.  General forest enterprise (~ 35 employees) Coordinate activity of state forest enterprises  National board of protected areas (~ 25 employees) Coordinate activity of state institutions of protected areas

FOREST ADMINISTRATORS AND OWNERS  State forest enterprises (~ employees) 42 enterprises administrate 50 % of the forest.  Private forest owners (~ owners) Occupy 38 % of the forest.

INSTITUTIONS OF PROTECTED AREAS INSTITUTIONS OF PROTECTED AREAS (Works in the territory of state forest enterprises and private forests)  National parks (~ 100 employees) 4 national parks and 1 historical national park  Regional parks (~ 150 employees) 30 regional parks  Strict reserves (~ 50 employees) 6 strict reserves

CONTRACTORS OF FORESTRY WORKS CONTRACTORS OF FORESTRY WORKS (Forest felling, forest plantation, thinning)  Small enterprises (~ 3000 forest workers) About 300 enterprises (5-20 forest workers in each enterprise)  Normal enterprises (~ 1000 skilled forest workers) About 30 enterprises (has modern forest machinery and skilled forest workers in each enterprise)

FOREST OWNERS’ INSTITUTIONS  Forest owners’ associations (~ 15 employees) 2 associations  Forest owners’ cooperatives (~ 150 employees) 10 cooperatives

FOREST RESEARCH AND PREPARING OF SKILLED FOREST SPECIALISTS  Lithuanian University of Agriculture Faculty of Forestry and Ecology (~ 20 teachers) Every year prepare ~ 100 forestry specialists highest qualification Carry out forest research  Kaunas Forestry and Environment Engineering University of Applied Sciences Faculty of Forestry and Landscape Architecture (~ 20 teachers Every year prepare ~ 60 forestry specialists of high qualification, Carry out forest research, Organize refresher course for forestry specialists and private forest owners Every year prepare ~ 20 skilled forest workers and ~ 150 forest sawyers  State forest research institute (~ 40 researchers) Carry out forest research

FOREST INVENTORY AND FOREST MANAGEMENT PLANNING INSTITUTIONS  State Forest survey service (~ 35 employees) Carry out national forest inventory, create forest informational system  State forest management planning institute (~ 150 employees) Makes projects for forest management  Private forest management planning institutions (~ 100 employees) Makes projects for forest management

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION Dr. Albinas Tebėra Kaunas Forestry and Environmental Engineering University of Applied Sciences Liepų g. 1, Girionys, Kauno raj. Lithuania Tel , Fax Fax