Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Controlling Factors of Forest Cover Change in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains
Forest cover change is driven by complex processes that depend on political, conservation, and biophysical conditions. At present, mountain areas worldwide are undergoing intense forest cover change. Local-scale studies exist, but policy makers lack reliable and consistent information at the regiona...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
International Mountain Society
2015-11-01
|
| Series: | Mountain Research and Development |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-15-00014 |
| _version_ | 1818545779138101248 |
|---|---|
| author | Steven Vanonckelen Anton Van Rompaey |
| author_facet | Steven Vanonckelen Anton Van Rompaey |
| author_sort | Steven Vanonckelen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Forest cover change is driven by complex processes that depend on political, conservation, and biophysical conditions. At present, mountain areas worldwide are undergoing intense forest cover change. Local-scale studies exist, but policy makers lack reliable and consistent information at the regional scale about long-term trends, controlling factors, and the success of existing policy measures. Long-term forest cover change data based on advanced image preprocessing procedures have recently become available. This study explores the potential of such data for a regional-scale analysis of forest cover change in mountain areas by analyzing forest cover change in the Romanian Carpathian Ecoregion (about 107,000 km2) between 1985 and 2010. It shows that (1) extrapolations from local to regional scale are inaccurate, (2) European forest protection policies have been unsuccessful, and (3) the Romanian Carpathians are greening due to land abandonment in remote areas. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T07:44:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-690cca145ea14f56a67dcf2c3d83b9c0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0276-4741 1994-7151 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T07:44:30Z |
| publishDate | 2015-11-01 |
| publisher | International Mountain Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Mountain Research and Development |
| spelling | doaj.art-690cca145ea14f56a67dcf2c3d83b9c02022-12-22T00:32:40ZengInternational Mountain SocietyMountain Research and Development0276-47411994-71512015-11-0135433835010.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-15-00014Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Controlling Factors of Forest Cover Change in the Romanian Carpathian MountainsSteven Vanonckelen0Anton Van Rompaey1Division of Geography, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, BE-3001 Heverlee, Belgium; Agency of Nature and Forests, Duboislaan 14, BE-1560 Hoeilaart, Belgium; steven.vanonckelen@lne.vlaanderen.beDivision of Geography, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E, BE-3001 Heverlee, BelgiumForest cover change is driven by complex processes that depend on political, conservation, and biophysical conditions. At present, mountain areas worldwide are undergoing intense forest cover change. Local-scale studies exist, but policy makers lack reliable and consistent information at the regional scale about long-term trends, controlling factors, and the success of existing policy measures. Long-term forest cover change data based on advanced image preprocessing procedures have recently become available. This study explores the potential of such data for a regional-scale analysis of forest cover change in mountain areas by analyzing forest cover change in the Romanian Carpathian Ecoregion (about 107,000 km2) between 1985 and 2010. It shows that (1) extrapolations from local to regional scale are inaccurate, (2) European forest protection policies have been unsuccessful, and (3) the Romanian Carpathians are greening due to land abandonment in remote areas.http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-15-00014forest cover changeimage preprocessinglogistic regressioncontrolling factorsEuropean Union conservation policiesmountain areasCarpathian MountainsRomania |
| spellingShingle | Steven Vanonckelen Anton Van Rompaey Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Controlling Factors of Forest Cover Change in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains Mountain Research and Development forest cover change image preprocessing logistic regression controlling factors European Union conservation policies mountain areas Carpathian Mountains Romania |
| title | Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Controlling Factors of Forest Cover Change in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains |
| title_full | Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Controlling Factors of Forest Cover Change in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains |
| title_fullStr | Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Controlling Factors of Forest Cover Change in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Controlling Factors of Forest Cover Change in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains |
| title_short | Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Controlling Factors of Forest Cover Change in the Romanian Carpathian Mountains |
| title_sort | spatiotemporal analysis of the controlling factors of forest cover change in the romanian carpathian mountains |
| topic | forest cover change image preprocessing logistic regression controlling factors European Union conservation policies mountain areas Carpathian Mountains Romania |
| url | http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-15-00014 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stevenvanonckelen spatiotemporalanalysisofthecontrollingfactorsofforestcoverchangeintheromaniancarpathianmountains AT antonvanrompaey spatiotemporalanalysisofthecontrollingfactorsofforestcoverchangeintheromaniancarpathianmountains |