Development of Land Cover Naturalness in Lithuania on the Edge of the 21st Century: Trends and Driving Factors

Daiva Juknelienė, Laima Česonienė, Donatas Jonikavičius, Daiva Šileikienė, Daiva Tiškutė-Memgaudienė, Jolanta Valčiukienė and Gintautas Mozgeris
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Daiva Juknelienė: Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, 53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Laima Česonienė: Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, 53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Donatas Jonikavičius: Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, 53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Daiva Šileikienė: Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, 53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Daiva Tiškutė-Memgaudienė: Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, 53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Jolanta Valčiukienė: Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, 53361 Kaunas, Lithuania
Gintautas Mozgeris: Agriculture Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Studentų Str. 11, Akademija, 53361 Kaunas, Lithuania

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: Landscape naturalness is an important indicator for supporting sustainable development-driven policies and suggesting associated decisions in land management. This study used CORINE Land Cover data to estimate the changes in land cover naturalness in Lithuania since 1995. All the land cover types were ranked according to naturalness level, ranging from purely anthropogenic to natural landscapes. Spatial patterns of the increase or decline in landscape naturalness were investigated at the level of municipalities. Then, publicly available geographic data were mobilised to explain the reasons behind the trends observed. A minor increase in land cover naturalness in the whole area of Lithuania was observed; however, this increase was statistically insignificant. Nevertheless, statistically significant clusters with both increasing and decreasing levels of land cover naturalness were identified when moving to the level of municipalities. The trends in the development of landscape naturalness were associated with the specificity of agricultural and forestry activities in the municipalities. The suitability of lands for agriculture due to soil, terrain, current land use specifics, and related drivers, such as the availability of land reclamation installations and the intensity of land use, were the main drivers for the declining level of land cover naturalness, usually concentrated in northern and central Lithuania. The land cover naturalness did increase in less suitable areas for agriculture, i.e., in the more forested southeastern municipalities. The study emphasised the need for a systematic and spatially explicit monitoring of the land cover patterns and their changes as well as elaborated proposals for land management policies over the next decade, which were mostly in the line with current European Union and national strategies.

Keywords: land cover; naturalness; CORINE; land cover change; hot spot analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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