We outline the environmental and socio-political background of the Carpathian region and review the past two centuries of land change across the eight countries, with particular focus on the time around the collapse of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe. We show that institutional shocks can severely affect land change, but that the magnitude of change differs among regions, and that the response to abrupt policy changes can sometimes occurs with a substantial time-lag.
We exemplify land use legacies that persist on the landscape for decades or even centuries, affecting the current landscape composition, pattern and change. Understanding land change patterns and the potential land use conflicts arising from these changes are essential for the regions land management.