Citation: R˘ adulescu, C.V.; Bran, F.; Ciuv˘ at , , A.L.; Bodislav, D.A.; Buzoianu, O.C.; S , tef˘ anescu, M.; Burlacu, S. Decoupling the Economic Development from Resource Consumption: Implications and Challenges in Assessing the Evolution of Forest Area in Romania. Land 2022, 11, 1097. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/land11071097 Academic Editor: Charlie Shackleton Received: 17 June 2022 Accepted: 14 July 2022 Published: 18 July 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). land Article Decoupling the Economic Development from Resource Consumption: Implications and Challenges in Assessing the Evolution of Forest Area in Romania Carmen Valentina Rădulescu 1 , Florina Bran 1 , Alexandru Liviu Ciuvăt , 2 , Dumitru Alexandru Bodislav 3 , Ovidiu Cristian Buzoianu 4 , Mihaela S , tefănescu 5 and Sorin Burlacu 6, * 1 The Department of Agrifood and Environmental Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010552 Bucharest, Romania; carmen-valentina.radulescu@eam.ase.ro (C.V.R.); florina.bran@eam.ase.ro (F.B.) 2 National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry “Marin Drăcea”, 077190 Bucharest, Romania; liviu.ciuvat@icas.ro 3 The Department of Economics and Economic Policies, The Faculty of Theoretical and Applied Economics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010552 Bucharest, Romania; alex.bodislav@ase.ro 4 The Department of Management, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010552 Bucharest, Romania; ovidiu.buzoianu@man.ase.ro 5 Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests, 010552 Bucharest, Romania; mihaela.stefanescu@mmediu.ro 6 The Faculty of Administration and Public Management, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010552 Bucharest, Romania * Correspondence: sburlacu@amp.ase.ro Abstract: The paper proposes an insight into the relation existing between economic development and resource consumption and the associated implications and challenges for forested areas in Romania. In accordance with this purpose, the methods used are both qualitative and quantitative by using a relevant literature review, including international and national reports. In the 1950s and 1960s, Simon Kuznets introduced to modern economic theory the idea that there are certain market forces directly correlated with economic development. After almost two decades of a market economy in Romania, we are witnessing a relative decoupling process between economic development and social inequality. Moreover, the country strives to make the transition to a circular economy by involving all relevant stakeholders and by attracting the necessary financial support. Sustainable development offers the perspective of reaching an equilibrium between economic, social, and environmental aspects. Finding the right tools to assess multiple impacts has always been challenging as regards decoupling the economic development from natural resource consumption. Although there are multiple interpretations of the outcomes of a decoupling process, this paper aims at assessing the evolution of forested areas through econometric research using the Environmental curve of Simon Kuznets. As our main results, we have observed a decoupling process in the GDP growth that will not lead to a decrease in wooded areas in our country, mainly due to rural–urban migration, shifts in consumption patterns (from firewood toward natural gases, etc.) and improvement in the legislative framework in the case of forestry products. Among the weaknesses of the model used are the limited data availability and the reduced number of observations with annual frequency (data were taken only for 22 years), the use of a square pattern instead of a cubic one (it is possible for the results to differ and consequently another form of this curve, either N or N-inverted) or the use of data with a low accuracy related to the total forest areas in Romania. Among the conclusions of the papers, the decoupling process is not a single action process. Our research focused on forest area and the need to connect it with other policy actions related to mainstreaming sustainability, promoting a circular economy or bioeconomy, or developing innovative public policies and instruments. Keywords: sustainable development; environmental Kuznets curve (EKC); forestry; GDP; decoupling process Land 2022, 11, 1097. https://doi.org/10.3390/land11071097 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/land