To study the magnitude of land degradation, desertification or resilience in Montenegro throughout the 20 th and early 21 st century, we re-photographed the landscapes pictured on 48 historical photographs dating back to periods between 1890 and 1985, and analysed in a semiquantitative way the land use and cover changes that occurred through an expert rating system (six correspondents). Time series of hydrology and population density were analysed for the period since 1948, and compared to the changes observed through repeat photography. Overall, vegetation cover has strongly increased and barren areas occupy less space. The industrialisation that expanded in the 1950s led to strong urbanisation. Despite steadily increasing population (with the notable exception of the Mountain region), the vegetation cover has increased strongly and everywhere. This denser vegetation has led to higher infiltration of rainfall. Partitioning of infiltration water led on one hand to deep infiltration and better low flows and on the other hand to increased evapotranspiration at the boundary layer, leading to decreased total runoff coefficients. In the Mountain region, runoff coefficients have increased, which may be related to earlier snowmelt. Overall, the findings of this study are in line with observations elsewhere in the former SFR of Yugoslavia that, as a result of erosion control and significant vegetation regrowth, the changes observed over a century point to land resilience and not to desertification.Key words: Discharge, Land degradation, Population growth, Repeat photography, Runoff coefficient IntroductionRecent studies discuss (Brandt and Thornes, 1996;Geeson et al., 2002;Hill et al., 2008;Hooke, 2006;Kosmas et al., 1997;Le Houérou, 1989), and sometimes question (Butzer, 2005;Grove and Rackham, 2001), the magnitude of land degradation and desertification in the Mediterranean basin, the human responses, and the linkages with land use and cover (LUC) changes. This is an actual environmental issue, where mostly the strong evidence for trends in desertification/
Land use change in all river basins leads to changes in hydrologic response, soil erosion, and sediment dynamics characteristics. Those changes are often viewed as the main cause of accelerated erosion rates. We studied the impact of land use changes on soil erosion processes in one of the watersheds in Montenegro: the Miocki Potok, using this watershed as a pilot river basin for this area. We simulated responses of soil erosion processes by using a process-oriented soil erosion Intensity of Erosion and Outflow (IntErO) model, with different settings of land use for the years 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2020. The model provides fast, effective, and affordable insight into the effects of land use change on soil erosion processes. Testing of the applied procedures was important for the further establishment of watershed management methodologies at the national level, for the other 300 river basins of Montenegro. For the current state of land use, calculated peak discharge for the Miocki Potok was 364 m3 s−1 (2020)–372 m3 s−1 (1970) for the incidence of 100 years, and there is a possibility for large flood waves to appear in the studied basin. Real soil losses, Gyear, were calculated at 13680 m3 year−1 (2020) and specific 333 m3 km−2 year−1 (2020). A Z coefficient value of 0.439 (2020) indicated that the river basin belongs to destruction category III. The strength of the erosion process was medium, and according to the erosion type, it was mixed erosion. According to our analysis, the land use changes in the last 50 years influenced a decrease in the soil erosion intensity for 14% in the Miocki Potok River Basin. Further studies should be focused on the detailed analysis of the land use changes trends with the other river basins at the national level, closely following responses of soil erosion to the changed land use structure, and effects of plant-and-soil interaction on soil erosion and sediment dynamics.
This paper presents a case study of the village of Mrkovi in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro, showing the importance of landscape identification and assessment in planning the revitalization and development of Mediterranean rural settlements. The research revealed the methods of identification and evaluation of different landscape types. Moreover, it showed how such an approach could considerably contribute to the preservation of the space's identity and quality by taking into account the existing characteristics of the space or the relationship between cultural and natural heritage. The identification of the landscape types was followed by the evaluation of individual elements and assessment of vulnerability in relation to the space's natural, cultural, and visual quality. The first step in the process of preserving the elements that contribute to the landscape's identity was the spatial identification of the cultural pattern of traditional terraces with drystone walls. The results of analysis indicate a high risk of degradation of the basic landscape value. The effects of future interventions in the space, especially the planned construction of a tourist resort, can be mitigated if they comply with the guidelines related to the rational use of the space and delimitation of the construction zones. This paper points out the importance of a responsible attitude and planned approach regarding the cultural and natural landscape of Mediterranean rural settlements.2 of 15 development possibilities at the landscape level and proposed solutions for the preservation of the elements of the structure of the landscape could make a big contribution to the cultural landscape's identity and/or biodiversity [2,3].Geographical position of the Boka Kotorska Bay and its specific nature caused the formation of human settlements in this area in the remote past, as evidenced by cultural heritage, which is very important for the study of the history of a particular space. Villages in Boka Kotorska, over its long development history, have changed much less than the towns, and that is why the villages have preserved homogeneous traditional and conservative features.At their very beginning, the villages in Boka Kotorska were made up of several houses belonging to the same clan or kinship community. That is why many of today's villages and hamlets are named after the first families that were their original inhabitants. Villages in Boka mostly belong to so-called dispersed villages. The houses in the entire village or in some of its parts are scattered without any order. This is how most of the villages in the hills are organized. The villages are near the road, and there are plenty of houses on the slopes of the hills. Parts of the village are separated by valleys, streams, hills, and hill slopes. "The original inhabitants preferred to have their houses isolated, with the land around the house, and to be away from the road because it was believed that the house near the road partly belongs to someone else" [4].The position of the village was...
Vegetation cover change in all the river basins leads to the changes of hydrologic response, soil erosion and sediment dynamics characteristics. Those changes are often viewed as main cause of anthropogenic and accelerated erosion rates in short term and one of the main reasons of climate change in long term. The effects of vegetation cover changes on various parts of water balance and hydrological cycle has to be deeply studied because of its important role on mankind future. The aim of present research was therefore to simulate the responses of soil erosion processes by using a process-oriented soil erosion model IntErO, with the different settings of land use for the years 1977, 1987, 1997, 2006 (2007) and 2016 (2017) in Orahovacka Rijeka watershed; a pilot river basin of the Polimlje Region for the northeastern part of Montenegro. For the current state of land use, calculated peak discharge for the Orahovacka Rijeka was 174-175 m3 s-1 (the incidence of 100 years) and there is a possibility for large flood waves to appear in the studied basin. Real soil losses, Gyear, were calculated on 2614-2921 m3 year-1, specific 229-256 m3 km-2 year-1 (1977-2017). The value of Z coefficient range from 0.444 to 0.478 and indicates that the river basin belongs to III destruction category. The strength of the erosion process is medium, and according to the erosion type, it is surface erosion. According to our analysis the land use changes in the last 40 years influenced the increase of the soil erosion intensity for 11% in the study watershed. Further studies should be focused on the detailed analysis of the land use changes trends with the other river basins at the national level, closely following responses of soil erosion to the changed land use structure. The results and approach also should be used by policymakers in all national natural resources organizations to highlight the role of management.
Europe has a history rich in examples of successful and problematic introductions of trees with a native origin outside of Europe (non-native trees, NNT). Many international legal frameworks such as treaties and conventions and also the European Union have responded to the global concern about potential negative impacts of NNT that may become invasive in natural ecosystems. It is, however, national and regional legislation in particular that affects current and future management decisions in the forest sector and shapes the landscapes of Europe. We identified all relevant legal instruments regulating NNT, the different legal approaches and the regulatory intensity in 40 European countries (no microstates). Information on hard and effective soft law instruments were collected by means of a targeted questionnaire and consultation of international and national legislation information systems and databases. In total, 335 relevant legal instruments were in place in June/July 2019 to regulate the use of NNT in the investigated 116 geopolitical legal units (countries as well as sub-national regions with their own legislation). Countries and regions were empirically categorized according to ad hoc-defined legislation indicators. These indicators pay respect to the general bans on the introduction of non-native species, the generally allowed and prohibited NNT, approval mechanisms and specific areas or cases where NNT are restricted or prohibited. Our study revealed a very diverse landscape of legal frameworks across Europe, with a large variety of approaches to regulating NNT being pursued and the intensity of restriction ranging from very few restrictions on species choice and plantation surface area to the complete banning of NNT from forests. The main conclusion is that there is a clear need for more co-ordinated, science-based policies both at the local and international levels to enhance the advantages of NNT and mitigate potential negative effects.
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