Project background
Adaptive Forest Management - Germany - Serbia: ANKLIWA-DS
Summary
Being situated in the center of the Balkan region Serbia has many regions with similar growth conditions to those in Germany. In the eastern and southern parts, however, the tree species distributions changes to warmer and drier climatic conditions than in Germany. According to NFI (2009), the total area under forest in Serbia is 2,252,400 ha, where beech (Fagus sylvatica) dominates with 42.4% in growing stock, covering 660,400 hectares of forest land (29.5%). Therefore, the importance of beech forests for environmental protection as well as for wood production is invaluable. The second most important species are oaks growing at 31.5 % of total forest area with a share in stocked volume of 28.3%. Pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) is the most widely distributed oak species growing around large water streams and is intensively managed. This species is not only because of its profitability very appreciated, the ecological and social functions of oak forests are also important alternative economic values for the North Forest region (Vojvodina), particularly because this is an agricultural-dominated area with a share of only 7.1% forests of the territory. In the near future, Serbia could become one of the hotspots of climate change in Europe and thus serve as a model for anticipating the challenges of climate change through meaningful adaptation strategies in forest management.