Long-term impact of socio-economic changes on agricultural land use in the Polish Carpathians

- The impact of socio-economic changes on land use are analysed on the period 1846-2009.
- The population density increased from 33 to 50 people/km2.
- Employment in agriculture decreased from 98% to below 30%.
- Cultivated land decreased by 94% and its upper boundary lowered by 200 m.
- Forest cover rapidly increased after collapse of communism in 1989.

The impact of socio-economic changes on land use on the period 1846-2009 are studied in village of Ochotnica (105 km2) and the Jaszcze and Jamne catchments in the Polish Carpathians. The analysis of maps, aerial photos, historical and census reports indicates that during the investigated period the forest area in Ochotnica increased by 77% and in the Jaszcze and Jamne catchments by 29% and 43%, respectively and cultivated land decreased by 94% in both catchments. The population density increased from 33 to more than 50 people/km2, while employment in agriculture decreased from 98% to below 30%. The analysed period shows diverging trends of land use, referring to the three stages of socio-economic development in the Polish Carpathians. Until World War II, agricultural land contribution was the highest throughout the history of human activity. After World War II, a communist maintenance system of the land use structure was inherited from the past. A free market economy, introduced after 1989, forced the largest increase in forest area since the first colonisation of the Gorce Mountains. In contrast to the mid-mountains of Western Europe, a decrease in population density did not accompany forest expansion, nor did a dominance of small farms in the ownership system.