LUCC in East Central and Southeast Europe post-communist countries from 1960s to the end of the 20th century and its historic-geographical roots
Abstract
This article assesses and compares Land Use changes in eastern regions of Europe: East Central Europe (ECE ) and South East Europe (SEE ). This part of the continent has to a certain extent common historical experience: multinational empires, ethic nationalism, peripheral position to markets and the communist experiment within 1940s–1980s.
All these developments, complemented by specific environmental characteristics, different from each other, have affected the evolution of Land Use structure over the last fifty years. Considerable differences in LU structure of SEE and ECE had existed undoubtedly already in pre-war period.
Here we try to on the basis of FAO LU database reveal how geographical and historical contexts shaped Land Use structural changes in both regions and led to important distinctions.