Effects of institutional changes on land use: Agricultural land abandonment during the transition from state-command to market-driven economies in post-Soviet Eastern Europe

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

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Effects of institutional changes on land use : Agricultural land abandonment during the transition from state-command to market-driven economies in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. / Prishchepov, Alexander; Radeloff, Volker C.; Baumann, Matthias; Kuemmerle, Tobias; Müller, Daniel.

In: Environmental Research Letters, Vol. 7, No. 2, 024021, 2012.

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

Prishchepov, A, Radeloff, VC, Baumann, M, Kuemmerle, T & Müller, D 2012, 'Effects of institutional changes on land use: Agricultural land abandonment during the transition from state-command to market-driven economies in post-Soviet Eastern Europe', Environmental Research Letters, vol. 7, no. 2, 024021. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024021

APA

Prishchepov, A., Radeloff, V. C., Baumann, M., Kuemmerle, T., & Müller, D. (2012). Effects of institutional changes on land use: Agricultural land abandonment during the transition from state-command to market-driven economies in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. Environmental Research Letters, 7(2), [024021]. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024021

Vancouver

Prishchepov A, Radeloff VC, Baumann M, Kuemmerle T, Müller D. Effects of institutional changes on land use: Agricultural land abandonment during the transition from state-command to market-driven economies in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. Environmental Research Letters. 2012;7(2). 024021. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024021

Author

Prishchepov, Alexander ; Radeloff, Volker C. ; Baumann, Matthias ; Kuemmerle, Tobias ; Müller, Daniel. / Effects of institutional changes on land use : Agricultural land abandonment during the transition from state-command to market-driven economies in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. In: Environmental Research Letters. 2012 ; Vol. 7, No. 2.

Bibtex

@article{7e3a9d79304447eba7710bdedd01df1f,
title = "Effects of institutional changes on land use: Agricultural land abandonment during the transition from state-command to market-driven economies in post-Soviet Eastern Europe",
abstract = "Institutional settings play a key role in shaping land cover and land use. Our goal was to understand the effects of institutional changes on agricultural land abandonment in different countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union after the collapse of socialism. We studied 273800km2 (eight Landsat footprints) within one agro-ecological zone stretching across Poland, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and European Russia. Multi-seasonal Landsat TM/ETM+ satellite images centered on 1990 (the end of socialism) and 2000 (one decade after the end of socialism) were used to classify agricultural land abandonment using support vector machines. The results revealed marked differences in the abandonment rates between countries. The highest rates of land abandonment were observed in Latvia (42% of all agricultural land in 1990 was abandoned by 2000), followed by Russia (31%), Lithuania (28%), Poland (14%) and Belarus (13%). Cross-border comparisons revealed striking differences; for example, in the Belarus-Russia cross-border area there was a great difference between the rates of abandonment of the two countries (10% versus 47% of abandonment). Our results highlight the importance of institutions and policies for land-use trajectories and demonstrate that radically different combinations of institutional change of strong institutions during the transition can reduce the rate of agricultural land abandonment (e.g.,in Belarus and in Poland). Inversely, our results demonstrate higher abandonment rates for countries where the institutions that regulate land use changed and where the institutions took more time to establish (e.g.,Latvia, Lithuania and Russia). Better knowledge regarding the effects of such broad-scale change is essential for understanding land-use change and for designing effective land-use policies. This information is particularly relevant for Northern Eurasia, where rapid land-use change offers vast opportunities for carbon balance and biodiversity, and for increasing agricultural production on previously cultivated lands.",
keywords = "agricultural land abandonment, institutional change, land-use and land-cover change, post-socialist, remote sensing, support vector machines, transition, USSR",
author = "Alexander Prishchepov and Radeloff, {Volker C.} and Matthias Baumann and Tobias Kuemmerle and Daniel M{\"u}ller",
year = "2012",
doi = "10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024021",
language = "English",
volume = "7",
journal = "Environmental Research Letters",
issn = "1748-9326",
publisher = "IOP Publishing",
number = "2",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Effects of institutional changes on land use

T2 - Agricultural land abandonment during the transition from state-command to market-driven economies in post-Soviet Eastern Europe

AU - Prishchepov, Alexander

AU - Radeloff, Volker C.

AU - Baumann, Matthias

AU - Kuemmerle, Tobias

AU - Müller, Daniel

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - Institutional settings play a key role in shaping land cover and land use. Our goal was to understand the effects of institutional changes on agricultural land abandonment in different countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union after the collapse of socialism. We studied 273800km2 (eight Landsat footprints) within one agro-ecological zone stretching across Poland, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and European Russia. Multi-seasonal Landsat TM/ETM+ satellite images centered on 1990 (the end of socialism) and 2000 (one decade after the end of socialism) were used to classify agricultural land abandonment using support vector machines. The results revealed marked differences in the abandonment rates between countries. The highest rates of land abandonment were observed in Latvia (42% of all agricultural land in 1990 was abandoned by 2000), followed by Russia (31%), Lithuania (28%), Poland (14%) and Belarus (13%). Cross-border comparisons revealed striking differences; for example, in the Belarus-Russia cross-border area there was a great difference between the rates of abandonment of the two countries (10% versus 47% of abandonment). Our results highlight the importance of institutions and policies for land-use trajectories and demonstrate that radically different combinations of institutional change of strong institutions during the transition can reduce the rate of agricultural land abandonment (e.g.,in Belarus and in Poland). Inversely, our results demonstrate higher abandonment rates for countries where the institutions that regulate land use changed and where the institutions took more time to establish (e.g.,Latvia, Lithuania and Russia). Better knowledge regarding the effects of such broad-scale change is essential for understanding land-use change and for designing effective land-use policies. This information is particularly relevant for Northern Eurasia, where rapid land-use change offers vast opportunities for carbon balance and biodiversity, and for increasing agricultural production on previously cultivated lands.

AB - Institutional settings play a key role in shaping land cover and land use. Our goal was to understand the effects of institutional changes on agricultural land abandonment in different countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union after the collapse of socialism. We studied 273800km2 (eight Landsat footprints) within one agro-ecological zone stretching across Poland, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania and European Russia. Multi-seasonal Landsat TM/ETM+ satellite images centered on 1990 (the end of socialism) and 2000 (one decade after the end of socialism) were used to classify agricultural land abandonment using support vector machines. The results revealed marked differences in the abandonment rates between countries. The highest rates of land abandonment were observed in Latvia (42% of all agricultural land in 1990 was abandoned by 2000), followed by Russia (31%), Lithuania (28%), Poland (14%) and Belarus (13%). Cross-border comparisons revealed striking differences; for example, in the Belarus-Russia cross-border area there was a great difference between the rates of abandonment of the two countries (10% versus 47% of abandonment). Our results highlight the importance of institutions and policies for land-use trajectories and demonstrate that radically different combinations of institutional change of strong institutions during the transition can reduce the rate of agricultural land abandonment (e.g.,in Belarus and in Poland). Inversely, our results demonstrate higher abandonment rates for countries where the institutions that regulate land use changed and where the institutions took more time to establish (e.g.,Latvia, Lithuania and Russia). Better knowledge regarding the effects of such broad-scale change is essential for understanding land-use change and for designing effective land-use policies. This information is particularly relevant for Northern Eurasia, where rapid land-use change offers vast opportunities for carbon balance and biodiversity, and for increasing agricultural production on previously cultivated lands.

KW - agricultural land abandonment

KW - institutional change

KW - land-use and land-cover change

KW - post-socialist

KW - remote sensing

KW - support vector machines

KW - transition

KW - USSR

U2 - 10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024021

DO - 10.1088/1748-9326/7/2/024021

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:84863534824

VL - 7

JO - Environmental Research Letters

JF - Environmental Research Letters

SN - 1748-9326

IS - 2

M1 - 024021

ER -

ID: 138855275