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Romanian mountain commons in numbers: statistics from AE survey database 2016

Biophysical features of Romanian commons

The woodlands owned by Romanian communities of rightholders count 873,000 hectares, according to the Romanian Court of Accounts, 2014, official figure presented under the category of  ‘traditional associative forms', which refers to the independent commons; other sources indicate other figures, such as 788,694 ha, in 2015, having as source the official report filed by the Ministry of Forest and Water. For commons grasslands coverage and number of rightholders, official statistics are missing. Estimates based on our survey are: the mountain common count over 300,000 ha of grasslands, including alpine ranges and village pastures. The communities of rightholders count roughly 400,000 registered commoners.

1088 hectares average area of woodland per common
256 hectares average area of pasture per common
92 hectares average area of woody pasture per common
53% of Romanian commons have mostly broadleaved forest
30% of Romanian commons have mostly coniferous forest
74% of commons the forests are accessible by forestry roads
51% of commons have mostly young forest
<80 years
37% of commons have mostly old forest
>80 years
42% of commons have land included in protected areas, of which 15% in national parks

Benefits for communities and commoners

59% of Romanian commons' institutions provide funds for community infrastructure, and 32% of commons thus spend a large share of their revenue on collective welfare, having a public role
53% of commons' institutions offer sponsoring for different local activities, and 16% offer substantial and varied sponsoring
48% of commons' institutions distribute annually a quota of wood to commoners, mostly firewood and in some cases also construction wood
27% of common' institutions distribute exclusively a quota of wood as benefit (no liquid proceeds)
 
50% of commons' institutions distribute monetary proceeds to members, and 30% distribute only monetary (no wood)
11% of commons' institutions cannot afford to distribute anything, neither wood, nor money
42% of commons' institutions provide free pasturing for the commoners' livestock
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