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Project

THE IMPACT OF DEPOPULATION ON ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN EUROPE. A PILOT STUDY IN FRANCE, CZECH REPUBLIC AND POLAND.

This project hypothesizes that the ongoing abandonment of Europe’s rural periphery opens up unique possibilities for nature restauration. The depopulation in the periphery leads to more extensive land use and the greening of landscapes. These processes are very diverse and existing theoretical frameworks such as the forest transition theory are too general to develop applications for policy and management. This project aims and deepening the scientific knowledge on land abandonment and its ecological consequences. It consists of a pilot study along an east-west transect in Europe whereby the postwar land use change will be reconstructed for 3 catchments (in Poland, Czech Republic and France) based on available maps and aerial photographs. Firstly, this will allow a better understanding of the link between depopulation and land cover change. Secondly, the impact of the observed land cover change on two ecosystem services will be examined: (1) the reduction peak discharges in rivers and (2) habitat provisioning for wildlife. The project findings will contribute to deeper scientific insights in the relation between land abandonment and the restoration of ecosystem services and to a fine-tuning of the forest transition theory. On the longer term this research will lead to guidelines for policy makers at regional, national and European level on how to manage their depopulating area’s in order to restore key ecosystem services. This pilot project with 3 European partners is meant as a first step to build a wider European consortium on land management in Europe’s periphery.
Date:1 Oct 2022 →  Today
Keywords:Depopulation, Nature Restauration, Reforestation, Rewilding
Disciplines:Geomorphology and landscape evolution, Remote sensing, Landscape ecology