0000000000010984
AUTHOR
Ivo Vinogradovs
Assessment of site-specific drivers of farmland abandonment in mosaic-type landscapes: A case study in Vidzeme, Latvia
Abstract Farmland abandonment, which causes changes in rural life and farming practices, can be observed throughout Europe. Over the last decades natural afforestation has decreased the area of farmland used for agricultural production, thereby leading to landscape homogenization and polarization. This process is explicitly evident in mosaic type landscapes consisting of highly complex land cover patterns, soil composition and topography. The aim of the study was to determine the site-specific driving forces of farmland abandonment at landscape scale in relation to agro-ecological and geographic factors, in a post-Soviet country in Eastern Europe. An extensive field survey approach with sta…
MANAGEMENT OF SEMI-WILD LARGE HERBIVORES’ GRAZING SITES IN LATVIA
Large herbivores were a common part of European nature in the pre-agrarian times. With the development of farming and over-hunting, the number of wild large herbivores rapidly decreased. Wild horses and cattle became extinct. In the 1920-30’s, scientists created two new herbivore breeds that resembled the extinct aurochs and tarpans - Heck cattle and Konik horses. Nowadays the introduction of Heck cattle, Konik horses and other similar large herbivore breeds is widely used in specially protected nature territories (SPNT) as a strategic answer to the question – what should we do with the agricultural lands that have lost their economical meaning. Since 1999, semi-wild large herbivores are in…
ASSESSMENT OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES FOR PLANNING OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL
Ecosystem services (ES) are defined as the benefits that human beings derive from ecosystem functions. Assessment and mapping of these benefits are crucial for sustainable environmental planning and future natural capital. Green infrastructure (GI) is natural or semi-natural territories that provide wide range of ES. Human affected ecosystems tend to fail to provide certain sets of ES due to the trade-offs among those services, which could be mitigated through implementation of GI. Mapping of ES, as well as assessing the interactions among various ES and analysing their supply potential’s cold/hot spots considerably enhances and substantiates the planning process of GI, particularly at the …
Towards (dis)continuity of agricultural wetlands: Latvia’s polder landscapes after Soviet productivism
The concepts of agricultural regimes in advanced economies, such as productivism or non/neo/post-productivism, have been critically debated over the last decades to understand the transition and diversity of modern agriculture. We explore these concepts to understand the environmentally vulnerable landscape of agricultural wetlands in Latvia that, during the era of Soviet high modernism (productivist agricultural regime), have been converted into polders as part of a mass drainage movement. Today, these post-Soviet agro-polders can be characterised as antipodes in relation to integrity of heritage, ecology and the socio-economics of agricultural concerns. Building on case studies, wider pol…
“Nature caprices are finally defeated!”: reclamation politics and practices in Latvia during the era of modernism
Soviet agro-polders, as ideological and highly technological assemblies, were among the first ones to signify the productivism era in the rural landscape of the Baltic republics and the modernisation of Soviet agriculture there. At the time of autocratic reigning of productivist ideas, polders were a testimony to productivity – the means to disband with the unproductive past and demonstrate the Soviet Union’s scientific and technological supremacy over the traditional ways of managing the wetlands. The establishment of polders took place during two different periods of Soviet agricultural developments. The first phase occurred as part of Khrushchev’s reforms, whereas the second was implemen…
Ecosystem service approach for land use management in agroecosystems in the mosaic-type landscape
Promocijas darbs ir secīgu pētījumu kopa, kuras ietvaros ir izstrādāta daudzkritēriju lēmumu pieņemšanas atbalsta shēma zemes izmantošanas pārvaldības uzlabošanai mozaīkveida ainavu agroekosistēmās. Darba ietvaros tika aprobēts autoloģistiskās binārās regresijas modelis zemes izmantošanas maiņas virzītājspēku novērtēšanai Vidzemes augstienes mozaīkveida ainavā. Darba tapšanas laikā tika izstrādāta ekosistēmu pakalpojumu novērtēšanas un kartēšanas metode agroekosistēmām Vidzemes augstienē, un tālāk tā tika aprobēta visās Baltijas valstīs. Iegūtie rezultāti tika iestrādāti daudzkritēriju lēmumu pieņemšanas atbalsta rīkā un ir izmantojami teritoriju plānošanā un zemes pārvaldībā. Daudzkritērij…
Sabiedrības uzraudzības telpiskie aspekti Rīgas pilsētas centrā
Maģistra darbā “Sabiedrības uzraudzības telpiskie aspekti Rīgas bet, iespējams, šādā darbā tomēr jālieto) centā” pētīta varas veidotā ainava Rīgas pilsētas centrā, specifiski koncentrējoties tieši uz video uzraudzības sistēmām un to vietu un nozīmi mūsdienu lielpilsētā. Par maģistra darba mērķi izvirzīta Rīgas pilsētas sabiedrības telpiskās uzraudzības modeļa izveide, atklājot un kartogrāfiski vizualizējot sabiedrības uzraudzības telpiskos aspektus mūsdienu lielpilsētā. Galvenie maģistra darba uzdevumi ir pētījuma teorētiskā pamata izstrāde, uzraudzības telpisko struktūru konstatēšanā Rīgas pilsētas centrā, pilsētas centra videouzraudzības kameru, zonu un telpu kartes izveide. Maģistra darb…