CENTRE FOR REGIONAL STUDIES OF HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES DISCUSSION PAPERS Special Socio-Economic Analysis of the Carpathian Area Editors Zoltán Gál – Szilárd Rácz Series editor Zoltán Gál Pécs 2008 Project co-financed by the EU Authors Ferenc Erdősi DSc (chapter 9) István Fodor DSc (chapter 4) Zoltán Gál PhD (chapter 15) Wiktor Glowacki (chapter 5) Zoltán Hajdú DSc (chapter 2, 3) László Hrubi (chapter 11) Iván Illés DSc (chapter 1, 10) Lukasz Kotula (chapter 5) Teréz Kovács PhD (chapter 13) Kinga Kuczynska (chapter 5) Gábor Lux (chapter 12) Péter Póla PhD (chapter 6, 7, 8) Szilárd Rácz (chapter 5) Zoltán Raffay PhD (chapter 14) ISSN 0238–2008 ISBN 978 963 9899 00 01 2008 by Centre for Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Technical editor: Ilona Csapó. Printed in Hungary by Sümegi Nyomdaipari, Kereskedelmi és Szolgáltató Ltd., Pécs CONTENT 1 Introduction – The Carpathians: a European macroregion ........................................... 9 1.1 Physical geographic features ................................................................................ 9 1.2 The analysed area ............................................................................................... 10 1.3 Demography ....................................................................................................... 10 1.4 Ethnic and religious affiliations .......................................................................... 16 1.5 Employment ....................................................................................................... 18 2 General determinations of the Carpathians project area: geographical location, spatial structure, borders ............................................................................................. 21 2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 21 2.2 The Carpathians .................................................................................................. 21 2.3 The Carpathian Convention ................................................................................ 22 2.4 The Carpathians project space ............................................................................ 23 3 Historical geographical features of the project space ................................................. 27 3.1 Spatial constituents and consequences of the long-term historical processes ............................................................................................................. 27 3.2 Spatial processes of the project region in the time of modernisation ................. 30 4 Environmental management, risk prevention, natural and cultural heritage in the Carpathian area ..................................................................................................... 33 4.1 Water management, water pollution and flood control ....................................... 33 4.1.1 Water pollution ......................................................................................... 35 4.1.2 Flood and flood control ............................................................................ 36 4.2 The hazards of deforestation ................................................................................ 37 4.2.1 Soil degradation, erosion .......................................................................... 38 4.3 The potential impacts of climate change ............................................................. 39 4.4 Air pollution ........................................................................................................ 40 4.5 The environmental impacts of Carpathian industries, transport and agriculture ............................................................................................................ 41 4.6 Nature conservation in the Carpathian area ......................................................... 42 4.7 National parks in the Carpathian area .................................................................. 44 5 Carpathian settlement structure .................................................................................. 45 5.1 Austria ................................................................................................................ 45 5.2 Czech Republic ................................................................................................... 50 5.3 Hungary .............................................................................................................. 52 5.4 Poland ................................................................................................................. 53 5.5 Romania .............................................................................................................. 54 5.6 Serbia .................................................................................................................. 56 5.7 Slovakia .............................................................................................................. 57 5.8 Ukraine ............................................................................................................... 58 5.9 Conclusions ........................................................................................................ 60 4 6 The demographic features of the Carpathian region ................................................... 62 7 Education and employment in the Carpathian region ................................................. 68 8 Employment, unemployment ..................................................................................... 71 9 Transport in the Carpathians ...................................................................................... 77 9.1 The evolution of the transport network .............................................................. 77 9.2 The current situation of transport ....................................................................... 83 9.3 The major problems of transport in the Carpathian region, weaknesses and alternatives for their solution ....................................................................... 85 9.3.1 Side-roads in peripheries ......................................................................... 85 9.3.2 Regional traffic ........................................................................................ 87 9.3.3 Interregional traffic ................................................................................. 87 9.3.4 International (cross-border) traffic .......................................................... 87 10 Border crossing in the Carpathian area ....................................................................... 90 11 The general economic position of the Carpathian region ........................................... 94 11.1 Historical background, current processes ........................................................... 94 11.2 The region’s socio-economic position ................................................................ 98 11.3 The internal structure of the economic development and employment level of the Carpathian region .......................................................................... 105 12 Industry in the Carpathian area ................................................................................. 111 12.1 Industrial typology of the Carpathian regions .................................................. 111 12.2 The changing spatial structure of industry in the Carpathian area .................... 114 13 Agriculture in the Carpathian region ........................................................................ 117 13.1 The relationship between employment of active wage earners and agricultural farmers .......................................................................................... 117 13.1.1 Austria ................................................................................................... 117 13.1.2 Czech Republic ..................................................................................... 119 13.1.3 Hungary ................................................................................................. 119 13.1.4 Poland .................................................................................................... 120 13.1.5 Romania ................................................................................................ 121 13.1.6 Serbia .................................................................................................... 122 13.1.7 Slovakia ................................................................................................. 122 13.1.8 Ukraine .................................................................................................. 123 13.1.9 Summary ............................................................................................... 123 13.2 Land use structure ............................................................................................. 124 13.2.1 Austria ................................................................................................... 124 13.2.2 Czech Republic ..................................................................................... 125 13.2.3 Hungary ................................................................................................. 127 13.2.4 Poland .................................................................................................... 127 13.2.5 Romania ...............................................................................................