Land use - State and impacts (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
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Land
Table 1: Land distribution, according to the CLC Nomenclature
|
|
Land Cover, Level 1 |
Percentage of total territory |
|
1 |
Artificial surfaces |
1.6 |
|
2 |
Agriculture |
36.3 |
|
3 |
Forest and Semi-natural areas |
59.8 |
|
4 |
Wetlands |
0.1 |
|
5 |
Water |
2.2 |
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia did not take part in CLC2000. However, the CLC1990 inventory, completed in 2000, based on the images of 1995-1996, was accepted as CLC2000. All the figures about changes presented here are based on these data.
The CLC changes between 1990 and 2006 cover an area of about 35 565 ha, which is around 1.4 % of the total area of the country.
During the period 1990-2006, the trends of increases of artificial surfaces, wetlands and water bodies and decreases of agricultural areas, forests and semi-natural areas were similar to those during the previous decade.
Table 2: Land cover changes (ha), period 1990-2006, according to the CLC Nomenclature
|
|
Class |
Decrease |
Increase |
Total change |
|
1 |
Artificial Surfaces |
385 |
2 624 |
2 239 |
|
2 |
Agricultural Areas |
7 423 |
4 516 |
-2 907 |
|
3 |
Forest and Semi-natural Areas |
27 564 |
26 720 |
-844 |
|
4 |
Wetlands |
60 |
84 |
24 |
|
5 |
Water Bodies |
81 |
1 569 |
1 488 |
Changes in land structure connected with agriculture, as well as increases of artificial surfaces, uptake or soil sealing have negative environmental impacts. Such changes cause loss of soil as a resource supporting food production, and decrease both biodiversity and carbon sinks.
It is evident that the main impact is on agricultural areas, presented on Table 3.
Table 3: Main land cover changes, period 1990-2006, according to the CLC nomenclature
|
Class from |
Class to |
Hectares |
|
Agriculture areas |
Artificial surfaces |
1 823 |
|
Forest and semi-natural areas |
Artificial surfaces |
403 |
A more detailed view of these changes is given in the Figure 3.
Legend of Figure 3: CLC Codes description
|
CLC Code |
Description |
CLC Code |
Description |
|
112 |
Discontinuous urban fabric |
231 |
Pastures |
|
121 |
Industrial or commercial units |
242 |
Complex cultivation patterns |
|
122 |
Road and rail networks and associated land |
243 |
Land principally occupied by agriculture, with significant areas of natural vegetation |
|
131 |
Mineral extraction sites |
311 |
Broad-leaved forest |
|
132 |
Dump sites |
312 |
Coniferous forest |
|
133 |
Construction sites |
313 |
Mixed forest |
|
142 |
Sport and leisure facilities |
321 |
Natural grassland |
|
211 |
Non-irrigated arable land |
322 |
Moors and heathland |
|
221 |
Vineyards |
324 |
Transitional woodland/shrub |
The main negative impact is on complex cultivation areas (CLC Code 242) with more than 40% change from agriculture areas to artificial surfaces.
The other main change, of around 35 %, is to non-irrigated arable land (CLC Code 211).
It is interesting that a large part of the changes are to pastures (CLC code 231), where changes are to mineral extraction sites (CLC code 131) and dump sites (CLC code 132) with only a small number changed to construction sites (CLC code 133). These trends are in direct relation to the:
- increased number of permits issued by the Ministry of Economy for exploitation of mineral sites;
- problems in local self-government with setting-up dump sites, especially after the process of decentralisation.
Spatial distributions of these changes are shown on the Map 1.
It is evident that the biggest part of the changes occurred in the west part of the country. This corresponds to the rapid economic development in this area.
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For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/soer/2010/countries/mk/land-use-state-and-impacts or scan the QR code.
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