# Intensity and Driving Forces of Land Abandonment in Eastern Poland
## 4 Discussion  
The process of agricultural land abandonment is currently a significant factor influencing land use and land cover changes in Europe. Identifying the intensity and, in particular, the determinants of this process is crucial from the perspective of sustainable use of natural environment resources and development of spatial policy in agricultural areas, i.e., sustainable land management and planning. It also enables assessing changes related to soil erosion, biodiversity changes, and landscape shaping [34; 35; 36; 37]. The intensity of land abandonment in Central Europe was influenced by the character of agrarian reforms introduced as a result of the socio-economic changes of the late 1990s [8]. The intensity of this process was low in Poland where most arable land was privately owned in socialist times and thus ownership change was unnecessary [38]. [PERSON] et al. [39] studied land abandonment in the Carpathians, an 18,000 km\({}^{2}\) triangle formed by the borders of Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine. Based on satellite imagery, they estimated that a significant amount of arable land was abandoned between 1986 and 2000: 20.7% in Slovakia, 13.9% in Poland, and 13.3% in Ukraine. They also demonstrated that previously collectivised land in Poland was abandoned twice as often as the land that had been in private hands. At the same time, regions with small farms and highly fragmented land ownership had also experienced a considerable percentage of land abandonment during the last few decades of the 20 th century [40]. [PERSON] et al. [41] observed that one third of arable land in the Beskid Maly mountains (Carpathians, southern Poland) had been abandoned in the years 1965-1997 and the process had not finished yet. The analysis of data for all of Europe showed that a moderate intensity of land abandonment in the years 2001-2012 took place in Central European countries, including Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic as well as Ireland and the British Isles [7]. In recent years, the intensity of this process has been falling and the reclamation of the previously abandoned arable land has recently become a major trend. The intensity of land abandonment was reduced as a result of Poland's accession to the European Union and the resulting access to subsidies to agricultural production under the Common Agricultural Policy as well as payments for areas with unfavourable farming conditions [7]. Figure 11: Area of abandoned land within Susiec District (%) in four slope classes. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l l l l l} \hline  & **0–3\({}^{\circ}\)** & **3–7\({}^{\circ}\)** & **7–12\({}^{\circ}\)** & **>12\({}^{\circ}\)** \\ \hline Category 1 & 0.44 & 0.87 & 0.99 & 1.13 \\ Category 2 & 1.60 & 1.52 & 1.67 & 1.30 \\ Category 3 & 1.83 & 4.57 & 5.87 & 4.55 \\ \hline \end{tabular} Indexes: area of abandoned land in relation to the entire area with a particular slope range.  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Distribution of abandoned land area according to category and slope (Susiec District). Secondary forest succession is widespread in Poland, although statistical data on its extent are not available. Areas subject to an early stage of secondary forest succession are frequently classified as wasteland. Plots covered with trees are usually recorded as arable land in the land register. It is assumed that forest succession prevails over afforestation. At the same time, the final outcome, i.e., the species composition and structure of forests formed as a result of secondary succession, is a big unknown [42]. On the other hand, the planned process of afforestation has not been accelerated even by the financial instruments under the Common Agricultural Policy [43]. The process of discontinuing agricultural production in Lublin Province is noticeable and, in the years to come, it can lead not only to significant changes in land use itself but can also have an impact on landscape. The area of land abandoned in Lublin Province in the 1990-2018 period amounts to about 131,000 ha, i.e., 7% of arable land in 1990.