Mountain Arable Land Abandonment (1968–2018) in the Romanian Carpathians: Environmental Conflicts and Sustainability Issues

Ionuț Săvulescu, Bogdan-Andrei Mihai, Marina Vîrghileanu, Constantin Nistor and Bogdan Olariu
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Ionuț Săvulescu: Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 010041 București, Romania
Bogdan-Andrei Mihai: Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 010041 București, Romania
Marina Vîrghileanu: Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 010041 București, Romania
Constantin Nistor: Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 010041 București, Romania
Bogdan Olariu: Faculty of Geography, University of Bucharest, 010041 București, Romania

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 23, 1-11

Abstract: The agricultural mountain landscape in the Romanian Carpathians follows the same change trend in other European mountains, from variety and individuality to simplification and uniformization. Our paper proposes two complementary case studies from the Southern Carpathians—Poiana M?rului and Fundata, representative areas for the entire Carpathian ecoregion. The research focuses on a remote sensing approach with Corona KH-4B (1968) and Planet Scope (2018) images at 2.0–3.0 m resolution used for mapping arable plots pattern and size change. Landscape transformation modelling is focused on four-hectare sampled grid for both case study areas, followed by a landscape metric analysis. Fundata area is the most transformed, where arable plots disappeared under the service-based economy pressure. Poiana M?rului shows an earlier stage of landscape transformation, where the arable land abandonment process is incipient. The spatial and statistical analysis and field survey confirmed that tourism changed the traditional agricultural landscape, generating potential environmental conflicts and indicating the sustainability degree.

Keywords: traditional agriculture; transformation; tourism; sustainability; environmental conflicts; CORONA KH-4B; Planet Scope (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:23:p:6679-:d:290928

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