Summary/Abstract
European Union countries provide substantial subsidies for farmland afforestation. Most of the research so far has focused on contribution of afforestation to carbon sequestration, afforestation schemes’ uptake, social and economic efficiency and their impact on local biodiversity. Less attention has been given so far to the relevant performance of subsidy schemes’ specific design in climate change adaptation, an emerging policy objective. This paper investigates adaptive capacity of subsidised afforestation projects in a Central European country. Subsidies are found to be concentrated primarily to highland regions that already have got high forest cover, with Norway spruce as the preferred tree species and a deficit of European beech, an arrangement that may undermine the payment scheme’s contribution to land use adaptation to climate change. Lack of clear policy objectives and related technical subsidy design, rather than appropriation towards competing policy goals, appear to be the ultimate reason behind spatial distribution and structure of subsidised projects. Subsidy spending seems to follow recipients’ choices instead of any deliberate policy priorities.