Changes in Forest Cover in Poland - CORINE Land Cover Analysis

We are pleased to announce the latest article by our Institute's staff: Dr. hab. Leszek Gawrysiak, Prof. UMCS, and Prof. Dr. hab. Waldemar Kociuba, which has been published in the journal Sustainability:

Kociuba D., Gawrysiak L., Kociuba W., 2024. Changes in Forest Cover of Municipalities in Poland in 1990–2018. Sustainability, 16, 3954. https://doi.org/10.3390/su16103954

Changes in forest cover in Poland are an extremely important topic in the context of sustainable development and environmental protection. This work presents dynamic changes in the forest cover of municipalities in Poland over the period 1990–2018, using data from the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) program. The analysis considers both deforestation and afforestation processes and highlights the formal, legal, and financial conditions of these changes.

The study results show that deforestation dominated from 1990 to 2000, while the subsequent periods (2000–2006 and 2006–2012) saw a predominance of afforestation. Unfortunately, in the years 2012–2018, there was a renewed increase in deforestation, which raises concerns in the context of sustainable forest resource management.

The article also highlights significant differences between data obtained from the CLC program and public statistical data collected by Statistics Poland (GUS) and the State Forests, which are due to, among other factors, differences in measurement methods and data updates.

Publication list of Institute staff

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    Date of addition
    11 July 2024