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Despite being a minority activity in terms of income and employment,
agriculture is the dominant land use in Europe. Since the 1950s, Europe
has experienced a continuing trend towards urbanization at the expense
of natural, semi-natural and agricultural land. The area under productive
agriculture in Western Europe has fallen over the past 30 years - by 6.5
per cent for arable and permanent crops and by 10.9 per cent for permanent
pasture (FAOSTAT 2000). However, the decrease has been accompanied by
more intensive production methods. This intensification trend seems set
to continue, and better integrated spatial and land use planning and management
are required to tackle the problems associated with land cover and land
use change. During the 1990s, in many parts of Central and Eastern Europe,
pressure on land resources began to decrease, due to the collapse of centrally
planned economies, the ending of state subsidies to large collective farms
and depopulation of rural areas. The economic collapse also led to a sharp
decrease in the use of agricultural chemicals, abandonment of huge irrigation
projects and agricultural land, and a decrease in numbers of livestock
with a generally beneficial effect on the environment. A substantial land
area is being reforested, and this trend may accelerate with climate change.
In recent years, increased attention has been given to the restoration
and protection of wetlands. About two-thirds of the European wetlands
that existed 100 years ago have been lost (EC 1999). Wetlands are the
only ecosystem type that is covered by its own international convention,
the Ramsar Convention of 1971, under which signatories agree to include
wetland conservation in their national planning and to promote sound utilization
of wetlands. In 1985, the World Wildlife Fund and the International Union
for the Conservation of Nature launched a campaign to promote public awareness
about wetlands and their importance. A major goal was to ensure that wetland
development goes ahead only when all the implications are understood and
when plans have been produced to ensure that the environmental consequences
are minimized.
Policies and measures relating explicitly to land use planning and management
have generally been the responsibility of national and local level governments
in Western Europe, while in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) there has
been an abrupt change from central planning to local or no planning. Since
1989, the agricultural policies of CEE have gradually moved into line
with those of the European Union. A number of international policy initiatives
also exist relating to land management (see box below).
| International efforts to improve land management |
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International policy efforts to protect ecosystems and wildlife
habitats through global conventions include the Ramsar Convention
on wetlands, the biodiversity convention and the European Spatial
Development Perspective (ESDP) initiated by the Ministers responsible
for Regional/Spatial Planning in the European Union.
The ESDP is intended to improve the spatial coherence of European
Community (EC) policies. It examines both the achievements and the
inadequacies of the main policy areas that affect the development
of EC territory, including competition policy, policies linked to
networks in transport and telecommunications, structural funds,
agricultural and environment policy, and research, technology and
development (EC Committee on Spatial Development 1999).
The Environment for Europe process also focuses attention on the
European landscape. The European Biodiversity and Landscape Strategy
was launched during the fourth Environment Ministerial Conference
in Århus (1998).
These major international programmes all emphasize the need to
improve statistical monitoring activities. The European Land Use/Land
Cover Statistical Survey project (LUCAS) is a promising example
which was approved by the European Parliament in April 2000.
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