Inventory of major landscape changes in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovak Republic 1970s – 1990s

Abstract

One of the most important achievements in 1998–1999 of Phare Topic Link on Land Cover has been the development and practical application of a methodological approach to landscape change identification and analysis in the territories of four Phare countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, and the Slovak Republic). The changes were identified on a national level from Landsat TM and MSS satellite images by application of the CORINE Land Cover databases for two time horizons (the late 1970s and early 1990s) at the second hierarchic level. Based on identified causality, the landscape changes were grouped into 7 types: intensification of agriculture, extensification of agriculture, urbanisation-industrialisation, enlargement (exhaustion) of natural resources, afforestation, deforestation and other anthropogenic causes. The results of the groupings are presented in the form of contingency tables and maps showing the spatial distribution of the changes. From the point of view of total extent, forest landscape changed the most in the Czech Republic. This change represents a reduction of forest by 167,702 ha and an enlargement of transitional woodland-scrub by about 26,339 ha. In Hungary the most pronounced changes were decrease of forests by 66,622 ha and decrease of arable land, orchards and vineyards by 21,529 ha. The most remarkable changes identified in Romania were decrease of arable land, forests and wetlands by 366,817 ha, 285,887 ha, and 59,967 ha, respectively, as well as enlargement of areas of complex cultivation pattern by almost 347,220 ha. The most pronounced changes in Slovakia were represented by diminution of forest by 94,935 ha and that of heterogeneous agricultural areas by 18,451 ha; enlargement of transitional woodland-scrub areas and urbanised area were about 13,107 ha and 14,990 ha, respectively.