CARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS

 OF EASTERN EUROPE

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          The Carpathian Mountains of Eastern Europe are a massive mountain chain that expands across the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Ukraine, forming a beautiful grand arc that is of the total size of 48,300 square miles. They are approximately 1400 km long and 100-200 km wide, between 45o and 50o N latitude and 17o and 27o E longitude (1), covering an area of 209,256 km2. It is very interesting that the Carpathian Mountains, also known as Carpates, are not as famous to the tourists as for example the Alps although they are larger than they are - they are 5 times bigger than     Switzerland and 18 million people inhabited the area (2). 

          The Carpathian Mountains represent the most complex forest ecosystems in Europe "with about 300,000 ha of natural forests and 20,000 ha of primary beech forests still existing" (8). The importance of the forest ecosystems of the Carpathian Mountains is significant since it is an objective of many studies due to its uniqueness and diversity, that's why it has become the center of many discussions about the high risk of deforestation, land damage, as well as atmospheric pollution and climate change, and its affect on the European natural environment (8). The beech forest is a virgin forest that is one of Europe's biggest temperate forest heritages and it is major because of its ecological processes, species, great size and beauty (10). 

          The origin of the name of the Carpathians is from the ancient Greek 'Karpat-Heros' tribes that over 2,000 years ago lived in the South Carpathians. Throughout the history different people inhabited the land, all wanting to claim it of their own - Romans, Goths, Avars, Slavs, and Magyars, making that part of land one of the most diverse places when it comes to language and traditions. Those people highly affected the area by developing agriculture, pastoral farming and mountain shepherding, which was always a very big part of the culture of the Carpathian people. Even though the advanced farming and shepherding were the biggest threats for the Carpathian Mountains, in the 20th century the exploitation for coal and metal mining and minerals became big. People started building railways, the commercial aspects of the mountain life started developing more and more, threatening the rich nature life of the Carpathians. Nowadays the biggest problem that the nature and the people living in that region have to face is the unstoppable expansion of industrialism which significantly polluted air and water in that region, also creating sulphur emissions and acid rain that heavily damaged the forests in that region (2). 

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          It is very troubling that the Carpathian Mountains are under so much danger since they are the home of the largest European populations of brown bears (Ursus arctos L.), wolves (Canis lupus L.), chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra L.), lynxes (Lynx lynx L.), golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos L.) and marmots (Marmota marmota L.)and over one third of all European plant species, with the ones that are endemic in that region forming about 12% of the total flora (3), being specific 3988 plant species, and 481 of them are found only in the Carpathians. Europe overall has already lost 56 % of its forests and it is very likely that it will be loosing more since only 2% of the forest that still remains is protected (4). For example the European Bison (Bison bonuses) has almost been completely distinct by the 20th century and now is only rarely existent in some parts of Central and Eastern Europe, mainly is the habitat of the Carpathian Mountains, that had reintroduced the the Bison to the populations (5). It was the human pressure through creation of extensive farmland areas that lead the European Bison to distinction, but now the farmlands are being abandoned which gives an opportunity for the Bisons to safely reproduce and further conserve the life of the wild species in the Carpathian Mountains (7). 

Five countries that share the Carpathian Mountains have recently became a part of the European Union which leads to major economic growth of the countries and brings big hopes for the support from the other countries of the EU that could impact on land-use and the environment of the Carpathians (4). So far the economic growth lead only to more advanced industrialization, tourism and major roadbuilding plans. Another hope and threat at the same time is that the European Community will want to explore the areas of this part of Europe, hopefully by first well-preserving them and not extensively building railroads for more accessible tourism of the Carpathian Arc. The biodiversity and the richness of the region is significant, almost 16% of the Carpathian Mountains is under protection (3). But is that enough to save the beautiful bow like passage that the nature created? Most certainly not. With the high threats of logging - clear cutting, bad water and air pollution, high-speed development of the modern tourist ski resorts and plans for organizing big sport events in the area the wildlife of the Carpathian is in danger, because resorts mean not only humans presence, and ski lanes, but also motorways for commuting. In order to maintain balance between people and the Carpathian Mountains the first step is to create an ecological network to help the endangered species to survive. Another step is connecting and communicating not only with the seven countries of the Carpathians but also with the Alpine neighbors (6) that could become a multilayered cooperation of the same goal - to save the beautiful mountains but at the same time make them available to man's recreations - make humans, animals and plants happy! It is doable! 

          In 1999, the WWF started the Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative in order to point the region's development in a more sustainable direction. The Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative presented opportunities for protection and development of the region, by gathering a team of people representing each of the seven countries, proposing ideas that best suit their part of the Carpathian Mountains and their own ecosystem within that area individually (4). Another organization is the CNPA - The Carpathian Network of Protected Areas that coordinate conventions and also cooperates with the Carpathian countries raising awareness of the significance and fragility of the biodiversity of the ecosystem of the region, and how much in danger it is. Their program is built on the idea of thematic networking and ecological networking, and big awareness-raising activities, that are educational, informing normal people, about the conservation plan for the Carpathian Mountains. Thanks to that a regular citizen can understand and learn how he can help in saving his own land, where as in other organizations, often times the political side of the issue has a bigger stand and value. The protected areas of the CNPA network consist of "36 national parks, 51 nature parks and protected landscape areas, 19 biosphere reserves and around 200 other protected areas", the number of protected areas is still growing which means the Carpathian Mountains are on the right track (6).

           Human impact on the Carpathian Mountains has been present since the ancient times and the shepherding, traditional forms of grazing cattle, sheep, and horses, still function. Agriculture, logging and wood-processing industry plays an important economic role but because of it is also very dangerous to the ecosystem of the Carpathian Mountains it has been abolished in some areas 

substituting the income by using different kinds of shelterwood and selecting other cutting systems. Unfortunately the conservation status and effort are not balanced and they vary between different countries of the Carpathian Mountains (for example overhunting and pouching is a serious problem in Ukraine). The extraordinary region of  beech forests and different ecosystems, habitat of numerous species, and home for millions of humans for several thousand years can be saved by respecting the traditional landscapes of tremendous values of nature and educating the public of the simple steps on helping this massive arc of mountains and getting involved in the conservation organizations that concentrates on saving this rich area (1)!

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References: 

1."Eastern Europe: Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine | Ecoregions | WWF." WWF - Endangered Species Conservation | World Wildlife Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. <http://worldwildlife.org/ecoregions/pa0504>.

2."WWF - Green Mountains - The Carpathians." WWF - WWF. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. <http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/black_sea_basin/danube_carpathian/blue_river_green_mtn/carpathian_mountains/>.

3. Julius Oszlanyj, Krystyna Grodzinska, Ovidiu Badea, Yuriy Shparyk; Environmental Pollution; Volume 30, Issue 1, July 2004, Pages 127–134; Effects of Air Pollution on the Central and Eastern European Mountain Forests

4. "The Status of the Carpathians", A report developed as a part of The Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative , November 2001. 

5. Kuemmerle , Tobias . "European Bison habitat in the carpathian mountains ."Biological Conservation 143.4 (2010): 908–916. Print.

6.  "A network of protected areas for the Carpathians." Carpathian Network of protected areas. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. <http://www.carpathianparks.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=121&It

7. T. Kuemmerle, P. Hostert, V.C. Radeloff, S. van der Linden, K. Perzanowski, I. Kruhlov; "Cross-border comparison of post-socialist farmland abandonment in the Carpathians"; Ecosystems, 11 (2008), pp. 614–628

8. The Status of the Carpathians. A Report Developed as a Part of The Carpathian Ecoregion Initiative, 2001. WWF, November 2001, p. 5.

9.Szaro R., Bytnerowicz, A., Oszlanyi, J., Eds., 2002. Effects of Air Pollution on Forest Health and Biodiversity in Forest of the Carpathian Mountains, NATO Science series, Series I: Life and Behavioural Sciences, Vol. 345, pp. 3–75.

10. United Nations Environmental Programme, World Conservation Monitoring Centre; "Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany, Slovakia, Ukraine and Germany, July 20007, 5-2011, August 2011. 

PICTURE  References:
1. "The Status of the Carpathians" <http://www.carpates.org/docs/publications/status.pdf> Published by: WWF, Robin Webster, Suzie Holt, Charlie Avis
2."WWF - Multimedia." WWF - WWF. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. <http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/black_sea_basin/danube_carpathian/multimedia/>.
3."WWF - Multimedia." WWF - WWF. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. <http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/clear_cut/carpathian/multimedia/>.
4"A network of protected areas for the Carpathians." Carpathian Network of protected areas. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. <http://www.carpathianparks.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=121&It
5""Impressive" Carpathian Mountains by Neit." Travel Guides, Hotel Reviews, Photos, Forums, Deals - VirtualTourist.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012. <http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/ab3a1/7ef62/>.