SYSTEM OF SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL-ECONOMIC INDICATORS OF THE CARPATHIANS REGION DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the improvement of theoreties, scientific and methodological approaches to the formation of a system of socio-ecological-economic indicators of the Carpathians mountains areas development in the context of ecological economics and environmental economics theory. The paper presents theoretical, methodological and practical results, conclusions and proposals on  socio-ecological-economic development of the Carpathians mountain areas. Human well-being and progress toward sustainable development are vitally dependent upon Earth’s ecosystems. Well-being in forestdependent communities has long been discussed in the context of community sustainability, a term that includes the more general notion of forest community well-being. This includes not only economic indicators (i.e., per capita income, employment) but environmental quality and socio-cultural indicators that characterize community well-being. The level of education, parenting, recreation and leisure, social relationships between members of the community and intangibles such as the spiritual level of development affect the well-being of the community. Forest ecosystems and their provisioning services are still very important component of well-being for many communities in the Ukrainian Carpathians even though these communities cannot be treated as fully forest-dependent communities. The well-being of rural local communities in mountain regions is directly dependent on the sustainable development of forest ecosystems and their resources. In the paper the proposed definition of "forest-dependent community" with regards to the Carpathians conditions is presented; and the conceptual matrix model for determining the level of forest dependence has been developed taking into account the level of analysis (country, region, oblast, district, city / village, community, household, individual) and a type of forest dependence (from wood / wood products, non-wood forest products, tourism / recreation, from forest as a source of income / employment, forest ecosystem services for environment stabilization, cultural ecosystem services). Considering the priority of maintaining forest ecosystem services as components for the socio-ecological and economic development of the Carpathian mountain region, we propose indicators that take into account the current ecological-economic and socio-economic problems of the studied region. On this basis, and through our evaluation (using a mixed-method approach) of the contribution of forest ecosystem services to the forest-dependent communities wellbeing, we arrive into the following indicators of the development of the Carpathians mountain region: – indicators, that imply opportunities/threats to sustainable flows of ecosystem services; – indicators that characterize the impact of (inefficient) forest management; – indicators that characterize fostering sustainability in the provision ecosystem services, in the context of decentralization; – indicators that characterize an increase of community responsibility in the field of forest governance; – indicators, characterizing authorities’ ability in supporting effective management; – indicators that characterize cooperation and interaction between stakeholders (i.e. social innovations) for achieving sustainability; – indicators, demonstrating the availability/lack and simplicity/complexity of procedures for accessing / using of forest products; – indicators, characterizing accessibility to forest products by local population; – indicators, characterizing the essential steps by communities in the Carpathian region to improve the forest management efficiency and forest resilience. We discuss potential to improve current forest policy and law towards increasing the role of communities in the decision-making process in the field of sustainable forest management, conservation and restoration. Smart development of forest-dependent mountain territories and communities requires new and innovative strategies based on green growth innovations that would integrate scientific and local/traditional knowledge around the array of forest ecosystem goods and services. Such strategies should allow for increasing of human well-being without destroying the sustainability of fragile mountain forest ecosystems.