Definicja lasu w ujęciu krajowym i międzynarodowym oraz jej znaczenie dla wielkości i zmian powierzchni lasów w Polsce

Sustainable forest management, the leading topic in forest and environmental policy since the 1990s, has required an appropriate tools for both clarification of general principles and measurement of its progress. Many of indicators developed for these purpose are based on forest area. However, definitions of forest are not compatible, especially on national and worldwide scale. Definition of forest applied by FAO refers to crown cover and land use, while definition adopted for reporting under Kyoto Protocol refers only to the occurrence of trees. Polish Act on Forest applies the destination of land use as a determinant of forest. Paper analyses the process of forest area assessment in Poland for the purpose of national as well as FAO and UNFCCC reporting. Natural expansion of trees on abandoned agriculture land, still classified as the agriculture areas in cadastral system, was recognized as the biggest challenge of forest area assessment in Poland. Although natural succession is described by many authors, the total area subjected to this process is unknown. According to the FAO and Kyoto Protocol rules such areas should be reported as forests. As a consequence, forest area in Poland could be at least a few hundred thousand hectares higher than reported in the last assessments basing only on cadastral system. The proper classification of forests not recorded in the cadastral system would also be important challenge, otherwise between forest area on country and international level will be a huge discrepancy. But, there are some areas classified as a forest in Poland, which probably should not be included within FAO and Kyoto reporting. However, the most important topic concerns the possibility of identification of afforested areas, submitted under article 3.3. of Kyoto Protocol, basing on forest area changes between 1989 and 2012. One should recognise if afforested area is not overestimated using such approach, as a result of modification of forest definition in Poland in 1991. Additional question concerns the forest lands included into cadastral system after 1990, but afforested or resulting from natural succession occurring before that time, which currently are reported as afforestation under article 3.3. of Kyoto Protocol.