Compensations for biodiversity protection in forests of Lithuania

This study focuses on the importance of protection and rational use of biological diversity in forests. It aims to present a summarized overview of the condition of biological diversity protection in the Lithuanian forests and the potential for related developments in this area for the future. The first part of the study is a brief overview, based on research literature on the theoretical aspects of the role of the biological diversity and ecosystems in climate change. The second part of this work deals with the issues of legislation regarding the financial and compensatory mechanisms to forest owners and managers in relation to certain restrictions and limitations of their economic activities in forests for the protection of the public interest and the biological diversity in their forests. These considerations are been based on the information received from the national (Lithuanian) forestry authorities and institutions. The third part of this study deals with the practical application of these compensation and protection mechanisms, their efficiency and hindering problems to be solved. This study shows that both on the national level and on the EU level, biodiversity protection in forests is been perceived as the most important measure for climate change regulation, and carbon volumes regulation functions, and that this importance is increasing. It is also obvious that there are still relatively few efficiently functioning mechanisms for compensation to forest owners in relation to biological diversity protection. It is been concluded, as the main issues, that there is a need for improvements to the financial support mechanisms for compensating the state forest owners and managers to enable them to more easily receive these compensations and to use them.