Land use - Drivers and pressures (Latvia)

Drivers

The main drivers of land-use change are economically-related. Periods of economic growth have resulted in a tendency towards urban sprawl, depopulation in rural areas and rural-to-urban migration. The social driver − change of lifestyle − has caused agricultural land abandonment and the transformation of natural areas and agricultural land around cities into built-up areas.

During periods of economic decline, the problem of agricultural land abandonment is exacerbated, emigration recommences and support measures for agriculture have proved to be insufficient.

Drivers that are of great importance but sometimes also have an opposite effect are policy drivers such as the EU’s direct payments. On the one hand, direct payments for maintaining agricultural land in good condition help to discourage land abandonment and other processes. Yet on the other hand, they also support afforestation. Thus, changes are being made to the landscape and land use anyway. Due to the low price of agricultural and forest land, there is a tendency to purchase land for deforestation, without undertaking any real agricultural activities to sustain it.

Environmental drivers do not play a substantial role in land-use changes. However, they are relevant in coastal areas where coastal erosion is increasing, for example along the Baltic Sea and in the Gulf of Riga.

Pressures

Changes in lifestyle, rural-to-urban migration and emigration lead to land abandonment. However, EU direct payments encourage farmers to maintain agricultural land in good condition, so the landscape is not modified too much. On the other hand, support for afforestation promotes the transformation of abandoned agricultural land to forests, changing landscape and ecosystems substantially.

Economic decline and unfavourable economic situations in agriculture provoke actions to generate immediate income - for example, depletion of natural resources and intensive timber harvesting.