The abandonment of traditional agricultural landscape in Slovakia - analysis of extent and driving forces

Landscapes change because they are the expression of the dynamic interaction between natural and cultural forces in the environment. Cultural landscapes are the result of consecutive reorganization of the land in order to adapt its use and spatial structure better to the changing societal demands. Particularly in Europe, history has recorded many successive and even devastating landscape changes, which have left barely any relics today. Today, the changes are seen as a menace, as a negative evolution because they cause a loss of diversity, coherence and identity, which were characteristic for the traditional cultural landscapes that are rapidly vanishing. This growing concern is also expressed in the European Landscape Convention, which will be used as a start for the analysis in this article. Three periods of landscape dynamics are considered: the traditional landscapes before the important changes that started in the 18th century, the landscapes of the revolutions age of the 19th to 20th century, and the post-modern new landscapes. The combined effect of the driving forces such as accessibility, urbanization, globalization and the impact of calamities have been different in each of the periods and affected the nature and pace of the changes as well as the perception people have had about the landscape. Values change accordingly and so does the way of using and shaping the landscape. It is argued that this changing perception also influences what kind and aspects of landscapes are studied, protected and managed. Diversity and identity of cultural landscapes are central in the discussion. It is shown that coherence between small composing elements in a broader spatial context is important for the legibility of the landscape and that the ability to tell the (his)story of a place strongly enhances the identity and the overall value. This offers criteria for inventorying and assessing landscapes, which is needed to define future management and development. Although the general trends of future development of the European landscapes are rather well known, planning and managing future landscape remains difficult and extremely uncertain. The processes and management in past traditional landscapes and the manifold relations people have towards the perceivable environment and the symbolic meaning it generates, offer valuable knowledge for more sustainable planning and management for future landscapes.

Why Landscapes of the Past are Important for the Future

https://arpi.unipi.it/bitstream/11568/924580/1/1-s2.0-S0264837717305227-main.pdf

Typology and distribution of small farms in Europe: Towards a better picture

The transformations in Slovak agriculture from the 1950s to the present day, considering both the generic (National and EU) and site-specific (local) drivers of landscape change, were analysed in five mountain study areas in the country. An interdisciplinary approach included analysis of population trends, evaluation of land use and landscape change combined with exploration of the perceptions of local stakeholders and results of previous biodiversity studies. The generic processes active from the 1950s to 1970s were critical for all study areas with impacts lasting right up until the present day. Agricultural collectivisation, agricultural intensification and land abandonment had negative effects in all study areas. However, the precise impacts on the landscape were different in the different study areas due to site-specific attributes (e.g. population trends, geographic localisation and local attitudes and opportunities), and these played a decisive role in determining the trajectory of change. Regional contrasts in rural development between these territories have increased in the last two decades, also due to the imperfect preconditions of governmental support. The recent Common Agricultural Policy developments are focused on maintenance of intensive large-scale farming rather than direct enhancement of agro-biodiversity and rural development at the local scale. In this context, local, site-specific attributes can and must form an essential part of rural development plans, to meet the demands for management of the diversity of agricultural mountain landscapes and facilitate the multifunctional role of agriculture.

Drivers of change in mountain farming in Slovakia: from socialist collectivisation to the Common Agricultural Policy

Driving forces behind vineyard abandonment in Slovakia following the move to a market-oriented economy

Spulerova J., Dobrovodska M., Lieskovský J., Baca A., Halabuk A., Kohut F., Mojses M., Kenderessy P., Piscova V., Barancok P., Gerhatova K., Krajci J., Boltižiar M.: Inventory and classification of historical structures of agricultural landscape in Slovakia. Ekologia (Bratislava), Vol. 30, No. 2, p. 157–170 , 2011. Historical structures of the agricultural landscape (HSAL) hold a special position among historical landscape structures. The HSAL inventory in Slovakia aimed at countryside mapping entitled “Research and maintaining of biodiversity in historical structures of agricultural landscape of Slovakia”. This was established to provide new knowledge of HSAL distribution and conditions in Slovakia. The HSAL database provides outcomes of field mapping and identification of HSAL and their classification throughout Slovakia. The sum of 626 HSAL polygons was recorded in the field, and a total of 3033 polygons were identified as HSAL based on aerial photos. From a land use viewpoint, 4 classes of HSAL were distinguished under the following classification scheme: (1) Historical structures of the agricultural landscape with dispersed settlement, (2) Historical structures of vineyards’ landscape, (3) Historical structures of arable-land, grasslands and orchards and (4) Historical structures of arable-land and grasslands. The most frequent classes encountered are the Historical structures of arable-land and grasslands, and then the HSAL with dispersed settlement.

Inventory and classification of historical structures of the agricultural landscape in slovakia

Orchards as traces of traditional agricultural landscape in Slovakia

Traditional agricultural landscapes (TAL) represent ecosystems that consist of a mosaic of small-scale arable fields and permanent agricultural cultivations such as grasslands, vineyards and high-trunk orchards Diversity of TAL was studied on two levels: as the ecosystem diversity based on the type and intensity of land use of these biocultural landscapes, focusing on habitats related to forms of anthropogenic relief (FAR), which are significant as unique islands of species-rich communities in the agricultural landscape To classify the identified TAL we considered the presence of specific land use elements and we distinguished four classes of TAL: (I) TAL with Dispersed Settlements, (II) TAL of Vineyards, (III) TAL of Arable-Land, Grasslands and Orchards (IV) TAL of Arable-Land and Grasslands Plant species composition on mapped FAR shows high diversity of habitats, from open secondary screens and rocky habitats through rural communities and semi-natural grasslands to shrubby habitats, lines of trees or other small woody patches

Andrej Bača

Papers

Inventory and classification of historical structures of the agricultural landscape in slovakia

Orchards as traces of traditional agricultural landscape in Slovakia

Biodiversity of Traditional Agricultural Landscapes in Slovakia and Their Threats