Historical forest common property regime, Slovakia, central Europe

The forestry sector has traditionally been a strong resort in most of Central European countries, as the forest covers approximately 30 – 40 % of the their territories. The management of forest resources is characterized by existence of a long forestry tradition, and dynamic evolution of the forest ownership structure originated in 17th century. These systems have been experiencing a range of disturbances, including change of political regimes, economic conditions and environmental changes that challenge their capacity to maintain sustainable output. Political and institutional changes, in particular the establishment of communist regime in 1948 followed by large nationalization of property has had a significant impact on traditional forest management practice in particular shift to state large scale and centralized forest management. Political transformation and denationalization after the fall of communism, in 90s' returned forests to original owners but the lack of proper institutions affected re-establishment of effective regimes. Political transformation and globalization increases traditional social-ecological systems (SES) vulnerability to the emergence of new market forces. In an attempt to adapt, local communities are intensifying the use of resources; consequently, new vulnerabilities are emerging. This situation can inevitably lead towards the collapse of this traditional SES. This case study concentrates on the analyses of historical forest common property regime in central Europe – called 'Urbars' - that transformed into the present forest governance structure after 40 years interruption during socialism.