The influence of European Union single area payments and less favoured area payments on the Latvian landscape

Abstract

Abstract:At the end of the 20 th century, following the collapse of centralised planned economy of the Soviet Union, the disintegration of collective type of agriculture and the restoration of lands to their pre-war owners, Latvia experienced widespread abandonment of agricultural lands and their gradual re-colonisation by woodland. It has been assumed that following the accession by Latvia to the European Union in 2004 and the incorporation of the agricultural system into the Common Agricultural Policy would stop or reverse the process of land abandonment. The conclusion from examining five geographically diverse rural municipalities is that so far the single area payments have had little effect on hilly mosaic type landscape structure, or on the process of land abandonment.Key words: Agricultural land, agri-environment schemes; European Union (EU) single area payment (SAP), landscape structure, land use changes, EU less favoured area payment (LFAP)Abstrakts: EIROPAS SAVIENĪBAS VIENOTO PLATĪBU MAKSĀJUMU UN ATBALSTĀMO REĢIONU MAKSĀJUMU IETEKME UZ LATVIJAS AINAVAS RAKSTU UN STRUKTŪRU. 20. gs beigās ar centralizētās plānošanas sistēmas sabrukumu un kolektīvo saimniecību likvidāciju un zemes privatizāciju, daudzviet Latvijā lauksaimniecības zemes tika atstātas atmatā un tās pakāpeniski aizauga ar krūmiem un kokiem. Domāja, ka Latvijai iestājoties Eiropas Savienībā un ar iesaistīšanos kopējā lauksaimniecības politikā, samazināsies lauksaimniecības zemju pamešana. Minētā procesa apturēšana sevišķi svarīga ir mozaīkveida ainavās paugurainēs, kur atklātās pļavas un ganības ir nozīmīgs kultūrainavas elements un nodrošina tās bioloģisko daudzveidību. Pētījumā Eiropas Savienības atbalsta maksājumu ietekme uz ainavas rakstu un struktūru tika pētīta piecās ģeogrāfiskā un ainavas ziņā atšķirīgās pašvaldībās. Kā indikatori lauksaimniecības politikas ietekmei uz ainavu tika izmantoti vienotie platību maksājumi un atbalstāmo reģionu maksājumi.

From USSR to EU: 20 years of rural landscape changes in Vidzeme, Latvia

“…Large patches of mixed disturbed vegetation appeared between 1988 and 1992. The decrease in mixed disturbed vegetation since 2000 can be associated to European support schemes operating since 2004 (Nikodemus et al, 2010), and favouring management of land previously abandoned. Some of the overgrown, unmanaged areas will return to forest at some point and contribute to the total forest area, Table 4 Rates of changes.…”

“…This result should ideally be confirmed by using subsidies data predating the landscape variables, but is consistent with findings in other studies. The role of the CAP measures in slowing land abandonment has been identified in Estonia (Roose & Sepp, 2010) and Latvia (Nikodemus et al, 2010). However, these subsidies have been unable to halt land abandonment and promote restoration of the former mosaic landscape.…”

“…These payments promoted maintenance or restoration of agricultural activities, but did not restore of the mosaic character of the Latvian landscapes (Nikodemus, Bell, Penēze, & Krūze, 2010). Much of the agricultural land in the marginal regions remained abandoned and overgrown, later turning into forest.…”

Geo-Agricultural Database as a Platform for Mechanism Design

“…In Figure 4, the rate of land abandonment in each agricultural community (dependent), is compared with the area's topography (unchangeable), the number of young male farmers (short-term changeable), and whether the area is receiving governmental subsidy for unfavored production environment (short-term changeable). Nikodemus, Bell, Peneze, and Kruze (2010) investigated the effect of the European Union's single area payment (SAP) and less-favored area payment (LFAP) on the landscape pattern and concluded that, thus far, these policies have had negligible impact on the process of land abandonment. The Japanese counterpart to LFAP, the direct payment system in hilly and mountainous areas, has also been criticized for its ineffectiveness in improving land use (Martini & Kimura, 2009).…”

Impacts of Bioenergy on Agricultural Land Use Changes in Latvia

“…The importance of traditional agriculture landscapes has been widely recognised in Europe and the world (Navarro and Pereira, 2012). In Latvia, the changes of landscapes structure are caused by the changes of UAA, which are connected with processes of marginalisation and polarisation (Nikodemus et al, 2010). The main causes of landscape changes are: unused UAA and overgrowing processes or secondary succession, which is common in the mosaic landscapes (Ibid.).…”