Factors of Land Abandonment in Mountainous Mediterranean Areas
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Kerckhof et al. SpringerPlus (2016) 5:485 DOI 10.1186/s40064-016-2079-7 RESEARCH Open Access Factors of land abandonment in mountainous Mediterranean areas: the case of Montenegrin settlements Annelies Kerckhof1, Velibor Spalevic2, Veerle Van Eetvelde1 and Jan Nyssen1* Abstract Land use changes have been investigated in the surroundings of 14 rural Montenegrin settlements in order to get specific information about trends in land abandonment since around 1950. Permanently, seasonally and less inhab- ited settlements with different geographic conditions were studied. This was done by interviewing local inhabit- ants, which enabled a holistic approach to reveal the underlying processes of land abandonment. According to the observed patterns of land use change, the study sites can be categorized into intensified, urbanized, extensified, over- grown and forested cases. The category of extensified settlements is characterized by a highly reduced agricultural management intensity, resulting in an increase in grasslands and fruit trees at the expense of cropland. This land use change is mainly related to emigrating and aging inhabitants, having less livestock. Such extensive land use is found in both permanently inhabited and abandoned villages. Only some studied settlements became largely overgrown by bushes and forest. The steep average slope gradients and a large distance to the nearest city are explanatory fac- tors of such land abandonment. Land use intensification takes place in low-lying areas located nearby towns. Keywords: Montenegro, Land use changes, Marginal farmlands, Oral history, Qualitative research, Urbanization Background of ancient farming systems has caused an overgrowth of A dominant trend of abandonment, reforestation and traditional farmlands by shrubs and trees (MacDonald extensification has been found in the mountainous Euro- et al. 2000). Such patterns have been registered in the pean areas since 1950, in line with predominant socio- mountainous regions of Southern Slovenia, where the economic changes through the continent (Mottet et al. traditional agricultural landscape was overgrown by for- 2006; Jepsen et al. 2015). The combination of environ- est by 1980. Relations of this trend to socio-economic mental, economic and social aspects act as a driver for factors have already been revealed: the emigration of migration in rural contexts and it influences the land use rural inhabitants during the twentieth century and the changes (Kranjc 2008). More specifically, industrializa- accessibility of suitable lands to dwellings was detected as tion and urbanization have altered the landscape patterns a driver of local agricultural intensification. Afterwards, since the Second World War, due to shifts in lifestyles, some villages near access roads increased in terms of resulting in extensification of remote and physically dis- inhabitants but—as their activities are not related to agri- advantaged rural areas and intensification and agricul- culture anymore—this did not result in recent land use tural modernization of more urban areas (Antrop 2005; changes (Pausic and Carni 2012). Klijn and Vos 2000). Especially rural, mountainous land- Traditional landscapes have been evolving gradually scapes are determined as vulnerable to land abandon- over time and were characterized by appropriate land use ment (Baldock et al. 1996). Decrease or abandonment according to the local physical circumstances (Antrop 2000; Renes 2015). Initial settlements have often been established, taking into account land qualities and natural *Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Department of Geography, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium resources (LaGro 2001) as these provide inhabitants with Full list of author information is available at the end of the article ecosystem services on which they could rely for survival © 2016 Kerckhof et al. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. Kerckhof et al. SpringerPlus (2016) 5:485 Page 2 of 15 and welfare. According to Fagerholm et al. (2012), ecosys- NW–SE direction (Mugoša 2008). It is mainly filled with tem services can be both materialistic (proper conditions Quaternary materials and comprises the polje of Nikšić, for various crops or livestock, firewood, construction the area around the meandering river Zeta, the capital wood, wild fruits, herbs, etc.) as non-materialistic (places Podgorica, the lowland of Zeta Plain and Skadar Lake. for enjoying nature, recreation, etc.). Inhabitants often Parallel with this zone the elevated Durmitor Flysch possessed patches of land at different locations to have region is situated (often higher than 2000 m) with a rela- various physical circumstances (Antrop 2000) and a sys- tively soft lithology dominated by sandstones, siltstones, tem of transhumance, where people seasonally migrated marls and conglomerates. Furthermore, the Prokletije with their livestock in order to use grasslands in the contains a varied geology (of schists, sand- and lime- mountains (Dodgshon and Olsson 2007). The human stone, dolomites, volcanic outcrops, …) with glacial geo- impact on the landscape visually occurs as lynchets, cre- morphic features. The highest parts of this mountainous ated by soil accumulated at the edges of parcels due to region extend to Kosovo and especially Albania. Within the long-lasting ploughing of croplands on slopes (Char- Montenegro, the Northwestern Highlands contain most tin et al. 2011), and forest cutting and picking of stones peaks (with Bobotov Kuk being the highest: 2523 m a.s.l.) caused land to become sensitive to soil erosion, espe- and plateaus. This region mainly contains limestone, its cially on hill slopes. When such human impacts diminish, geomorphology is determined by a combination of glacial the erosion degree reduces as forested, bushy and even and karst processes (Annys et al. 2014). In the north, the grassy areas fix the soil and land resilience might take Tara canyon marks the border with the Northern crystal- place (Nyssen et al. 2014). However, karst zones prove to line hills, which covers a large part of the country along be vulnerable to land degradation because they recover the NE border and it mainly comprises flysch and sand- badly from degradation (Calo and Parise 2006). stone sediments: softer materials forming an undulating Little scientific research has been performed concern- landscape. ing land abandonment factors within Montenegro. As The climate of the coastal and high karst zone is Medi- this mountainous region is characterized by a variety terranean with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters of physical environmental settings and recently went (Nyssen et al. 2014) but precipitation is also affected by through some turbulent socio-economic developments, the mountain massifs (Kranjc 2008). The limestone hin- it is able to indicate an interesting pattern of recent terland is covered with typical bushy Mediterranean changes in land use and cover. Local-scale sites compris- vegetation as maquis, garrigue and degraded evergreen ing different physical and demographic characteristics woodland (Foster-Turley et al. 2010). The inland depres- have been studied to obtain specific information about sion contains large rectangular vineyards (Zeta Plain) land abandonment. A holistic approach has been adopted and some swampy areas (around Skadar Lake) and can as nowadays, many study methodologies are based on be extremely hot during summer. The northern regions the integration of biophysical, environmental factors and have a continental climate with rainfall, which is more socio-economic evolution to increase the understanding equally distributed over the year, cold winters and warm of landscape dynamics (Mottet et al. 2006). summers. Forests and pastures cover large parts of these regions (Nyssen et al. 2014). Methods Study area History and demography Physical environment Montenegro is characterized by a turbulent history. After Montenegro is situated in Southeast Europe along the hard times during the Second World War, the Socialist Adriatic Sea and within the Dinaric Alps, a Western Bal- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) was reorganized in kan mountain range comprising mainly NW–SE oriented six republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedo- ridges (Kranjc 2008). The small (13,812 km2) country can nia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia (Pittaway 2004). be divided in seven geomorphological regions (Frankl Industrialization occurred, causing migration to towns, et al. 2016; Fig. 1). The narrow coastal zone mainly con- urbanization and abandonment of mountain farm- tains small beaches with steep limestone slopes rising to ing practices (MacDonald et al. 2000). After 1953, the average heights of 800 m, a ria coast centered on Boka short-lived Yugoslav agricultural collectivization faded Kotorska and a large debris cone near Albania on which away and gradually, farmers shifted from subsistence- sand beaches developed (Nyssen et al. 2014). NE of this to market-based production during the 1960s (Pittaway zone lies the high karst zone: a dry Cretaceous limestone 2004). Then, industries of aluminum, steel and energy plateau characterized by karst phenomena, where the also became highly