THE RELATION BETWEEN BEARS AND FOREST CLEAR-CUTTING

Abstract

Deforestation, forests diminution, and scarcity of natural food are widely regarded as the primary factors contributing to the presence of brown bears in urban areas of Romania, and human-bear conflicts. Public misunderstanding regarding forest and bear management practices often leads to skepticism of expert information, worsened by misinformation in the media and social networks. This article aims to offer insight into deforestation and human-bear conflicts in Romania. It analyzes national and international official data, to assess the percentage of forested areas, primary causes of deforestation, brown bear population and density, and the number of human-bear conflicts. It also compares Romanian data with other European countries to explore the potential correlation between forested area percentage and human-bear conflicts. Between 2000 and 2020, Romania's forest area comprised 29.02% of its land, while Poland, France, and Italy had percentages of 29.89%, 30.04%, and 30.65%, respectively. Interestingly, the proportion of forest cover did not consistently correlate with the frequency of conflicts. Countries with similar forest percentages to Romania experienced fewer conflicts, whereas countries with higher percentages, like Slovenia (61.65%) and Slovakia (39.86%), faced numerous human-bear conflicts due to the dense brown bear population. The management of bears served as a valuable indicator of the extent of damage caused by these animals. In Croatia, Sweden, Slovakia, and Slovenia, where 10-16% of the bear population was harvested annually, lower levels of damage were reported. In contrast, Romania, with an annual harvest of only 2-3% of the bear population, experienced higher levels of damage.

Keywords

• deforestation
• brown bear
• management
• logging
• density