Land Reforms in Post-Socialist Mountain Regions and their Impact on Land Use Management: a Case Study from the Caucasus

Gunya, Alexey

doi:10.4000/rga.3563

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…As a result, the field boundaries of former collective farms were kept, and relatively few modern agro-complexes specialized in grain and flour production emerged. In contrast, Chechnya, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and North Ossetia did not legislate any formal land privatization, though in practice lands often belong to elites (Caucasian Knot, 2013), and de facto privatization by farmers occurred in some places (Gunya, 2017). In Chechnya, for example, the state regulates access to land while district municipalities regulate land in other republics.…”

Section: Northern Caucasusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural abandonment and re-cultivation during and after the Chechen Wars in the northern Caucasus

Yin

Butsic

Buchner

et al. 2019

Global Environmental Change

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Armed conflicts are globally widespread and can strongly influence societies and the environment. However, where and how armed conflicts affect agricultural land-use is not well-understood. The Caucasus is a multi-ethnic region that experienced several conflicts shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, most notably the two Chechen Wars, raising the question how agricultural lands were changed. Here, we investigated how the distance to conflicts and conflict intensity, measured as the number of conflicts and the number of casualties, affected agricultural land abandonment and subsequent re-cultivation, by combining social, environmental and economic variables with remotely-sensed maps of agricultural change. We applied logistic and panel regression analyses for both the First Chechen War (1994-1996) and the Second Chechen War (1999-2009) and interacted conflict distance with conflict intensity measures. We found that agricultural lands closer to conflicts were more likely to be abandoned and less likely to be re-cultivated, with stronger effects for the First Chechen War. Conflict intensity was positively correlated with agricultural land abandonment, but the effects differed based on distance to conflicts and the intensity measure. We found little re-cultivation after the wars, despite abundant subsidies, indicating the potentially long-lasting effects of armed conflicts on land-use. Overall, we found a clear relationship between the Chechen Wars and agricultural land abandonment and re-cultivation, illustrating the strong effects of armed conflicts on agriculture.

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Section: Northern Caucasusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural abandonment and re-cultivation during and after the Chechen Wars in the northern Caucasus

Yin

Butsic

Buchner

et al. 2019

Global Environmental Change

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Section: Initial Conceptual Provisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The paper is based on the institution-oriented approach [20,21]. The concept of 'insti tution' is important for understanding the role of environmental governance [22], espe cially in those regions where the transformation of statehood is observed [21]. This paper uses the following formulation: institutions are the rules of the game in society; they are man-made constraints that shape human interactions and thus are important social con structs of human behavior [23].…”

Section: Initial Conceptual Provisionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transformation of Nature Protection Institutions in the North Caucasus: From a State Monopoly of Governance to Multi-Actor Management

et al. 2021

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The paper analyzes the state and dynamics of key actors and institutions that regulate the use of resources within the protected areas of the North Caucasus, using the examples of the Teberda Biosphere Reserve and the Elbrus National Park. The network of protected areas created in the North Caucasus during the Soviet period relied on government support, and the participation of the local population in nature conservation was very limited. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the demonopolization of state land laws, new actors emerged, such as the local population and business. This has led to an exacerbation of the conflict between the tasks of nature conservation and the interests of business and local communities. The introduction of market mechanisms and the commercialization of the tourism sector threaten the state of protected natural areas (PAs) and require effective ways of land matters regulation. The paper analyzes the question of whether the PA system created in the Soviet era should continue to be exclusively the privilege of the state using a centralized approach to management? The contradictions in legislation and conflicts of nature management have cast doubt on the effectiveness of the system of environmental institutions inherited from the Soviet period. One of the solutions could be the actualization of environmental legislation, bringing it in line with civil and land regulations, as well as the wide involvement of the local communities and the public in the evaluation of economic and legal projects.

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“…In post-soviet, high-mountain countries, the situation is quite similar, with land-use intensification and abandonment being dependent of geophysical factors as well, like slope steepness and fertility (Alix-Garcia et al, 2012; Lieskovský et al, 2015). However, in postsocialist countries, land-use change was additionally affected by land reforms and market-price liberalizations after the breakdown of the USSR (Gunya, 2017;Kuemmerle et al, 2008). In southern and eastern mountains of Europe, agriculture is still particularly important but with land-use abandonment in areas far away from settlements and intensification nearby (European Environment Agency, 2010).…”

Section: Historic Landscape Pattern and Change From 1987 To 2015mentioning

confidence: 99%

Land-Use Change Related to Topography and Societal Drivers in High-Mountains – A Case Study in the Upper Watershed of the Tergi (Kazbegi Region), Greater Caucasus

Theissen

Otte

Waldhardt

2019

European Countryside

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High mountain ecosystems, with strong topographic and climatic gradients, are fragile and particularly sensitive to changes in land use. The abandonment of historic cultural landscapes has often led to changes in the pattern of land cover and thus, to a shift in the functions of high mountain landscapes, like fresh water supply, productivity or erosion control. In order to understand the effects of land-use change on the land-cover pattern at the local and regional scale, we analyzed and classified the mountainous landscape structure in the Kazbegi region in Georgia, located in the Central Greater Caucasus. For 13 settlements, we determined the land cover as present in 1987 and 2015, and quantified the changes over time to detect land-cover development trends for each settlement. Using a cluster analysis, the study area was analyzed regarding to topography (altitude, aspect, slope) and distance to settlements at the regional scale to gain six groups with separating conditions. Furthermore, each settlement was classified according to topography and land-cover change to obtain site-specific, comparative development trends. Our results show that this Caucasian high-mountain landscape is characterized by open grassland (67%) used as pasture and hay meadow, and natural birch forests (7%) in patches in the upper half of the subalpine belt. Within the settlements but also in their surroundings, field vegetables are cultivated in home gardens (1%). Land-cover change during the observation period mainly affected the cultural grassland with hay meadow abandonment. Moreover, shrubbery and forest expanded considerably on abandoned pastures. We further detected a strong relationship to topography that considerably varied between settlements resulting in specific trends in land-use change. Hay-making and arable land cultivation are focused today on sun-exposed and gentle slopes near the settlements. Shrub encroachment and reforestations were localized on farther distances and mostly on north-exposed slopes. Besides providing basic information about the historic and current land-use and land-cover patterns, our results quantify the landscape change during almost 30 years. A spatio-temporal analysis revealed an understanding of how land-use decisions influence the landscape pattern. In the context of societal development, regional socioeconomic processes, like shifts in the agricultural structure and population outmigration, seem to be societal drivers of changes. Our findings reveal linkages and interrelationships between natural, human-induced environmental and socioeconomic processes within high-mountain socio-ecological systems. Moreover, we suggest that sustainable land-use strategies for spatial development on sub-regional level, especially in marginal high-mountain regions, should consider topography and its influence on land-use change.

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Land Reforms in Post-Socialist Mountain Regions and their Impact on Land Use Management: a Case Study from the Caucasus

Cited by 9 publications

References 15 publications

Agricultural abandonment and re-cultivation during and after the Chechen Wars in the northern Caucasus

Agricultural abandonment and re-cultivation during and after the Chechen Wars in the northern Caucasus

Transformation of Nature Protection Institutions in the North Caucasus: From a State Monopoly of Governance to Multi-Actor Management

Land-Use Change Related to Topography and Societal Drivers in High-Mountains – A Case Study in the Upper Watershed of the Tergi (Kazbegi Region), Greater Caucasus

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