Forestry in transition: Imperial legacy and negotiated expertise in Romania and Poland (original) (raw)
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State Forestry is regarded by political ecologists as a coercive tool deployed by state authorities to nationalize, control and order the forest as a resource within the territory of a nation. The consequence of this is civilizing local people and subjecting them to the grip of the state. Much of this literature comes from the global South. However, in the iconic Białowieża Forest in eastern Poland, touted as Europe's last primeval forest for its old oaks and woodland bison, state foresters altered the prominence of their nationalistic and nationalizing history in three surprising ways: 1) they downplayed their historical role in nationalizing the periphery in the 1920s when the area was split between a national park and a forest belonging to the newly formed Polish state (the Second Polish Republic); 2) they created new allegiances with the Belarusian-identified local population, and 3) they referenced neighbouring Belarus' preferential management of forests within the adjacent Belovezshkaya National Park. This article weaves together insights from political ecology, post-socialist studies and environmental history in an ethnographic account of Polish state foresters in interaction with biologists, conservationists and "local" people in the fight to expand the Polish Białowieża National Park from 1990-2013. Foresters downplayed the forest's significance for the nation, at least rhetorically, because conservationists viewed and promoted the forest as having national, European and global heritage. Yet the globalized cosmopolitics of conservationists enabled, or perhaps even forced, foresters to frame their concerns in a language of local and ethnic minority rights and community participation. The transcendence of ethnic and cultural differences by foresters over nearly ninety years of existence marks an important and novel component of the post-socialist period. La foresterie domaniale est considérée par les «political ecologists» comme un outil coercitif déployés par les autorités de l'État de nationaliser, de contrôler et d'ordonner la forêt sur le territoire d'une nation. La conséquence de contrôle par l'État est la civilisation des populations locales et en les soumettant à la poignée de l'État. Une grande partie de cette littérature vient du Sud. Toutefois, dans la forêt de Białowieża dans l'est de la Pologne, présentée comme dernière forêt primitive d'Europe pour ses vieux chênes et les bisons des bois, les forestiers de l'État modifier l'importance de leur histoire nationalistes et la nationalisation de trois façons surprenantes: 1) il a minimisé leurs actions passées dans les années 1920s, lorsque la zone a été divisée entre un parc national et une forêt appartenant à la nouvelle Deuxième République de Pologne; 2) ils ont créé de nouvelles allégeances avec la population locale du Bélarus, et 3) ils ont regardé à travers la frontière pour comprendre la gestion des forêts de Biélorussie et leurs parcs. Cet article tisse idées de l'écologie politique, les études post-socialistes et de l'histoire de l'environnement dans la lutte pour élargir le parc national polonais Białowieża 1990-2013. Les forestiers ont reconnu la valeur de la conservation internationale de la forêt, et pas seulement sa valeur économique. Ils ont soutenu les droits des minorités locales et ethniques et la participation communautaire. La transcendance des différences ethniques et culturelles par les forestiers sur près de 90 années d'existence marque un élément important et nouveau de la période post-socialiste. Los parques forestales estatales son considerados por los especialistas en política ecológica como una herramienta coercitiva implementada por las autoridades estatales para nacionalizar, controlar y ordenar la masa forestal como recurso dentro de un territorio o una nación. La consecuencia de esto es civilizar a la población local y someterla al control del estado. Gran parte de la literatura al respecto proviene del Sur global. Sin embargo, en el icónico bosque Białowieża en el este de Polonia, considerado como el último bosque primitivo por sus viejos robles y sus bisontes europeos los silvicultores estatales alteraron la prominencia de su historia nacionalista y nacionalizadora de tres maneras sorprendentes: 1) minimizaron su papel histórico al nacionalizar la periferia en la década de 1920 cuando el área se dividió entre un parque nacional y un bosque perteneciente al estado polaco recién formado (la Segunda República polaca); 2) crearon nuevas alianzas con la población local que se identificaba como bielorrusa, y 3) la relacionaron con la gestión preferencial de los bosques de la vecina Bielorrusia en el Parque Nacional adyacente Belovezshkaya. En este artículo se entrelazan puntos de vista de la ecología política, estudios sobre el post-socialismo e historia del medio ambiente en un informe etnográfico de los silvicultores estatales polacos en la interacción con los biólogos, conservacionistas y personas "locales" en la lucha para ampliar el Parque Nacional de Białowieża polaco entre 1990 y 2013. Los silvicultores minimizaron la importancia del bosque para la nación, al menos retóricamente, porque los conservacionistas percibieron y promovieron el bosque como patrimonio nacional, europeo y mundial. Sin embargo, la cosmopolítica globalizada de los conservacionistas permitió, o tal vez incluso forzó a los silvicultores a enmarcar sus inquietudes en un lenguaje de derechos de las minorías étnicas y locales y la participación comunitaria. La trascendencia de las diferencias étnicas y culturales por los silvicultores durante casi noventa años de existencia marca un componente importante y novedoso del período post-socialista.
Northern Europe was, by many accounts, the birthplace of much of modern forestry practice, and for hundreds of years the region's woodlands have played an outsize role in international relations, economic growth, and the development of national identity. Across eleven chapters, the contributors to this volume survey the histories of state forestry policy in Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Germany, Poland, and Great Britain from the early modern period to the present. Each explores the complex interrelationships of state-building, resource management, knowledge transfer, and trade over a period characterized by ongoing modernization and evolving environmental awareness.
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Forest ecosystems are a prime example of the heated debates that have arisen around how forests should be managed, and what services and benefits they should deliver. The European transitions in governance to and from communist regimes have had significant impacts on forests and their management. Unstable legislative and institutional changes prior to, during, and after a communist regime, combined with unique remnant areas of high-conservation-value forests, make Romania an ideal case study to explore the social–ecological transitions of forest landscapes. The aim of this paper is two-fold. First, we present the origins of, the evolution of, and the current state of forest management and ownership in Romania during transitions between the pre-communist (–1945), communist (1945–1989), and EU periods (2007–). Second, we focus on the enablers and barriers in Romania towards sustainable forest management as defined by pan-European forest policies. We used a semi-systematic, five-step s...
When foresters reterritorialize the periphery: post-socialist forest politics in Białowieża, Poland.
“We would expect that environmental politics in the region would support a re-territorialized forest, given the global and pan-European conservationist and preservationist agenda. But this is not the case. It is in fact foresters who have downplayed the importance of the Białowieża Forest for the nation. Polish foresters have conceptualized their 'sustainable' form of forestry as transnational, but not really international, believing that their connection to Belarus is bound up in a responsible attitude toward forests and people; that forests need foresters, and so do forest communities. Foresters on the Polish side of the border must identify with the multi-cultural 'local.' By doing so they seem to be transcending cultural differences that once divided the region, and are entering into a new era of democracy and sustainable development. The imagined past of everyone working together productively and peacefully in the forest works as a kind of nostalgia that unites locals in opposition to conservationists' plans to expand the national park, which would further control the ecological management of the forest, ban logging, and therefore end state forestry in the Białowieża Forest. This is the reality of the post-socialist political ecology of the Białowieża Forest.”
Forest Policy and Economics, 2009
Germany and Scandinavia represent two paradigmatic forest management traditions, based on management for volume and management for profit, respectively. This study examines the prevailing silvicultural regimes and resulting economic outcomes in Germany and Sweden as benchmarks, and then corresponding analyses are performed for post-transition EU countries, represented by Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The analyses reveal a regional gradient where Poland stands closest to the German tradition, Latvia goes through a "scandinavisation", and Lithuania takes an intermediate position. Poland adheres to longer rotations and follows the principle of self-sufficiency, while economic efficiency has gained increased importance in Latvia. The observed gradient is likely to be sustained in the coming decades as the survey of key forest sector stakeholders reveals ideological patterns that correlate with the pace of reform of State forestry in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
Seeing the Wood for the Trees: Empire, Nation-Making and Forest Management
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Seemingly operating in an inverse relationship to the declining area of actual forest, the vast wood of publications on the topic continues to grow (thereby likely adding to the deforestation of the books' subject). The reader can consult global surveys of world forestry, thanks to the outstanding efforts of Michael Williams and Stephen Pyne. 2 National and micro studies also abound for those wanting information about a particular geographical area. All such studies displaying an array of different perspectives on forests: their symbolism, exchange, arrangement in gardens, art, cities-even their biological espionage (the cinchona's 'abduction' from South America to
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In this article, several findings on socio-economic conditions derived from national reports and a web-based questionnaire are discussed and related to the changing role of forestry and the future forest policy development. A number of Central and South-eastern European countries taking part in a SEE-ERA-NET project ReForMan project (www.reforman.de) participated in data acquisition: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Germany, Serbia and Slovenia. The aim of the research was to illustrate the present structure of forestry sector, as well as investigate newly emerging topics in forestry of Central and South-eastern Europe. The results indicated certain patterns in attitudes and perceptions among stakeholders that can be related to socio-economic conditions defined for each country. Clear differences between member and non-member countries exist only in level of implementation of EU legislation. Results showed consensus on main threats to the forests among all countries, but also some country specifics in perceptions of factors influencing forestry, their importance and professional competencies. These results could be additionally explained by influence of historical conditions which shaped development of forest sector in SEE region especially in its organizational dimension as well as in perceived role of forestry expressed through recognition of main forest functions. The influence of European forest policy processes in the region is evident through adaptation of EU legislation and perceived implications of international processes on national levels. Based on this observation, two possible options for future development of the forestry sector can be foreseen: (i) focusing on the productive function of forests and fostering its' sustainable use; or (ii) putting an emphasis on environmental and social issues. In both cases supporting public participation in decision-making processes is recommendable. Another conclusion based on perceived medium to low professional competencies to cope with new topics, that there is lack of confidence and need for professional support in decisionmaking processes.
Forest Restitution in Romania and the Impacts on Rural Communities: Cultural Dimension
Résumé. Les caractéristiques de la relation communauté–foret dans le contexte du processus de rétrocession des propriétés forestières en Roumanie: la dimension culturelle. L'évolution de la société humaine s'est avérée être extrêmement rapide durant ces derniers siècles, nécessitant des modifications extrêmes au milieu naturel, son empreinte bien définie étant représentée par son milieu entropique avec des caractéristiques modifiées en profondeur. Le développement socio-économique puissant et rapide a affecté dans un mode extrême la relation entre deux milieux, naturel et entropique, éléments de base du milieu géographique. L'analyse de la relation existante entre les communautés humaines et la forêt, met en exergue la corrélation étroite entre les deux sous-systèmes de base du système géographique. Cette communion, qui souligne le caractère unitaire du système, tend actuellement à se transformer (comme suite de l'apparition du processus de rétrocession des terrains ...
Romanian transformation in forest property- a glimpse to the past?
I will untangle the ways in which the past plays an important role in the privatized forests of Romania. I will show how present practices resemble those of the past and how people perceive themselves this resemblance – which further informs their claims and in the end, their actions. In this way I attempt to explain how the outcome of this transformation is far from its envisaged form because the past plays its parts in many guises.
Geopolitics in the Forest: A Border of Wilderness
Based on ethnographic sketches from the Białowieża National Park (Poland, Be-larus) between 2005 – 2009, the paper explores the EU external border in this region focus-ing on the mutual interconnection between the process of the Europeanization of Poland and its eastern border and the simultaneous othering of Belarus and the exotization of its local population. Belarus and its present political regime stand in juxtaposition with the image of Białowieża as the last European natural forest. In the eyes and practices of visitors of the Białowieża National Park, the forest is not only an area of pristine nature, but it is also an important witness of the recent political history of Poland. Th e juxtaposition of the political regime in Belarus and the ancient character of the locality is dynamically used by local population for establishing alliance with, or subversion of, the state. Th e paper discusses diff erent ways in which international borders are established through controversies and negotiations that concern the Białowieża National Park, including the politics of park entry, material barriers , EU standards, global and local arguments about how to protect nature, political tensions between Poland and Belarus, and divergent political interests. Th us, the paper explores the international border as a conservation border involving diff erent schemes of protection within the Polish side of the forest.