The Influence of the Property Restitution in the Tatra Mountains on Their Current and Future Nature Protection Management

Abstract

Private property restitution was one of the immediate concerns of all post-communist Central and Eastern European (CEE) nations after the fall of communism in 1989. So far limited research explored the impacts of the restitution on the conservation of National Parks and other nature reserves in the CEE, such as on the Carpathian Mountains. This paper tries to fill this gap for the trans-boundary Tatra region, the highest mountain range within the Carpathians. By combining in-depth interviews with archival and literature research, the different effects of changes in property regimes on the conservation in the Polish and Slovak parts of the Tatra were reconstructed. The results indicate that the influence of property restitution is perceived differently by Polish and Slovakian respondents. While Polish respondents claimed that lack of restitution in their part of the Tatras worked out positive for decision-making , Slovakians claimed that nowadays state lands are less protected and show more negative developments than the restituted ones.