March 10, 2009 -- The ashes of communism have proven fertile indeed. It's been almost 20 years since the Berlin Wall fell, and all across Eastern Europe, the forests are growing back in force.
It's no coincidence, according to a new analysis of land use patterns in the region. The economies of the Soviet Union and its satellite states relied heavily on large-scale communal farming and a Moscow-sponsored logging industry, which devastated the region's wilderness for almost 50 years.
When the great communist experiment collapsed, private citizens got their lands back and governments began stepping in to protect what woodlands remained. It had a huge impact -- European forests reclaimed 8,139 square miles of land between 1990 and 2005, an area twice the size of Rhode Island.
"People talk a lot about deforestation, but this is reforestation, and it's happening on a grand scale," said Gregory Taff of the University of Memphis.
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Taff led a team of researchers that tracked forest coverage in Russia and the 15 eastern European countries that once lay behind the Iron Curtain. The findings are due to be published this summer in the book "Reforesting Landscapes," by Springer.
The implications are profound. Trees suck carbon dioxide out of the air and lock it up in their wood and leaves, making them an important resource in the fight against global warming. But since the fall of the Soviet empire, Europe is the only continent to register an overall gain in forestland. Despite the region's re-greening, the planet still lost an area bigger than California to deforestation.
"Each spring when deciduous trees put on leaves in the northern hemisphere, four to five parts per million of carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere," Johan Varekamp of Wesleyan University said. "It gives you an idea what a powerful driver of CO2 the terrestrial biosphere is."
Today, a number of factors are conspiring to keep the green boom going. The population is shrinking, thanks to fertility rates that rank among the lowest in the world. And several countries have recently entered the European Union, paving way for citizens to migrate to the more urbanized, affluent western countries.
Forests are ingrained in region's culture, too.
"The forest is used for lots of things," Taff said. "People go into the forest to harvest berries, mushrooms, and for sap harvesting. The traditions have origins in the 17th century, and lasted for over 200 years."
As a result, forest management practices rival or often surpass those in the United States, Taff said.
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