Depending on the ecological, economic and social functions performed by forests, some 53 per cent of forests are designated as part of “functional Group I”, which means they are forests with special protective functions for water, soil, climate and industrial damage protection, recreation, biodiversity conservation and improvement of environmental conditions. It is claimed that, in general, private forest owners do not follow sustainable forest management techniques. They sell their forested land or harvest wood for economic gain, which in turn causes forest fragmentation and degradation as forested land is logged more intensively or converted for other uses.