drainage of organic soils for cultivation are responsible for about 10-12 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions (Smith et al. 2007), while agricultural activities contribute, both directly and indirectly, account for about 30 per cent of total anthropogenic emissions (IPCC 2014d). Nevertheless, predictions are that this share could increase drastically.


EU soils contain more than 70 billion tonnes of organic carbon (Lugato et al. 2014), which is equivalent to almost 50 times the EU’s annual greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009,


European cropland emitted an average of 0.45 tonnes of CO2 per hectare (much of which resulted from land conversion). The conversion of peatlands and their use is of particular concern. For instance, although only 8 per cent of farmland in Germany is on peatland, this area is responsible for about 30 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions for the entire farming sector (De Vos et al. 2015). However, with appropriate management practices, soil organic matter can be maintained and even increased. Apart from peatlands, particular attention should be paid to the preservation of permanent pastures and the management of forests soils. Keeping carbon stocks is thus essential for the fulfilment of present and future emission reduction commitments deriving from the implementation of the Soil Thematic Strategy (EC 2012c). The Life and Soil Protection report (DG Environment 2014) from the EU LIFE Environment programme identifies building soil organic matter as one of four headline priority issues, along with reducing soil erosion, the remediation of contaminated land and promoting targets for soil protection.


127:


Socio-economic factors of land abandonment in Eastern Europe and Central Asia


The breakup of the former USSR and the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) in 1991 began a period of transition from state-controlled to market-driven economies across Eastern Europe and Central Asia that resulted in a fundamental transformation of their agricultural systems and land-use. These transitional economies went through a stage of decline from 1991 to 2000. This economic and social crisis was particularly hard in rural regions, where state support of agriculture ended and rural development ceased almost entirely; where average life expectancy declined from 69 to 65


years, and male life expectancy in rural areas of the Russian Federation declined from 61 to 53 years (Prishchepov et al. 2013). As farming subsidies declined, the high cost of imported herbicides, fungicides and insecticides caused farmers to cut back on their use. Fertilizer use fell by 85 per cent in the Russian Federation and Ukraine and by almost 90 per cent in Kazakhstan between 1990 and 2000. Total grain production fell by more than 50 per cent during the same period (FAO 2013e). Between 1990 and 2000, investments in the Russian Federation agricultural sector declined from $39 billion to $2 billion (Prishchepov et al. 2013).


This free-fall in agricultural production in the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Kazakhstan slowed by 2000 and signs of recovery have been observed in all three countries since 2002-2005, clearly coinciding with the broader economic recovery of the entire region. Due to recovery of some agricultural subsidies and at least the partial success of reforms, fertilizer and machinery use has increased during the past few years. The use of mineral fertilizer has tripled since 1999 in Kazakhstan and doubled in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, but current application rates represent only a fraction of the amounts applied in the late 1980s (Lioubimtseva and Henebry 2012). A return to the 1980s application rates is unlikely and unnecessary, as they were frequently excessive. Between 1996–2000 and 2001–2008, overall yields had grown from 1.3 t/ha to 1.83 t/ha (FAO 2013e). Although weather remains a very important determinant for grain yield, improvements in crop management practices, fueled by growing state subsidies since 2005, have contributed to the recent increase and stabilization of crop yields (Liefert et al. 2013). However, this did not reduce the scale of land abandonment as marginal arable lands grew unprofitable and were gradually abandoned even under high grain demand. In addition, the area under cereals has continued shrinking from 50 million hectares in 1996–2000 to 45 million hectare in 2001– 2008 (FAO 2013e).


The share of harvested land under various major crops has changed in a different way (Figure-L2 46). Wheat has been the primary cereal crop in terms of area harvested and shows a slight increase in harvested area after the half- century of decline that followed the Virgin Lands expansion


279


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100  |  Page 101  |  Page 102  |  Page 103  |  Page 104  |  Page 105  |  Page 106  |  Page 107  |  Page 108  |  Page 109  |  Page 110  |  Page 111  |  Page 112  |  Page 113  |  Page 114  |  Page 115  |  Page 116  |  Page 117  |  Page 118  |  Page 119  |  Page 120  |  Page 121  |  Page 122  |  Page 123  |  Page 124  |  Page 125  |  Page 126  |  Page 127  |  Page 128  |  Page 129  |  Page 130  |  Page 131  |  Page 132  |  Page 133  |  Page 134  |  Page 135  |  Page 136  |  Page 137  |  Page 138  |  Page 139  |  Page 140  |  Page 141  |  Page 142  |  Page 143  |  Page 144  |  Page 145  |  Page 146  |  Page 147  |  Page 148  |  Page 149  |  Page 150  |  Page 151  |  Page 152  |  Page 153  |  Page 154  |  Page 155  |  Page 156  |  Page 157  |  Page 158  |  Page 159  |  Page 160  |  Page 161  |  Page 162  |  Page 163  |  Page 164  |  Page 165  |  Page 166  |  Page 167  |  Page 168  |  Page 169  |  Page 170  |  Page 171  |  Page 172  |  Page 173  |  Page 174  |  Page 175  |  Page 176  |  Page 177  |  Page 178  |  Page 179  |  Page 180  |  Page 181  |  Page 182  |  Page 183  |  Page 184  |  Page 185  |  Page 186  |  Page 187  |  Page 188  |  Page 189  |  Page 190  |  Page 191  |  Page 192  |  Page 193  |  Page 194  |  Page 195  |  Page 196  |  Page 197  |  Page 198  |  Page 199  |  Page 200  |  Page 201  |  Page 202  |  Page 203  |  Page 204  |  Page 205  |  Page 206  |  Page 207  |  Page 208  |  Page 209  |  Page 210  |  Page 211  |  Page 212  |  Page 213  |  Page 214  |  Page 215  |  Page 216  |  Page 217  |  Page 218  |  Page 219  |  Page 220  |  Page 221  |  Page 222  |  Page 223  |  Page 224  |  Page 225  |  Page 226  |  Page 227  |  Page 228  |  Page 229  |  Page 230  |  Page 231  |  Page 232  |  Page 233  |  Page 234  |  Page 235  |  Page 236  |  Page 237  |  Page 238  |  Page 239  |  Page 240  |  Page 241  |  Page 242  |  Page 243  |  Page 244  |  Page 245  |  Page 246  |  Page 247  |  Page 248  |  Page 249  |  Page 250  |  Page 251  |  Page 252  |  Page 253  |  Page 254  |  Page 255  |  Page 256  |  Page 257  |  Page 258  |  Page 259  |  Page 260  |  Page 261  |  Page 262  |  Page 263  |  Page 264  |  Page 265  |  Page 266  |  Page 267  |  Page 268  |  Page 269  |  Page 270  |  Page 271  |  Page 272  |  Page 273  |  Page 274  |  Page 275  |  Page 276  |  Page 277  |  Page 278  |  Page 279  |  Page 280  |  Page 281  |  Page 282  |  Page 283  |  Page 284  |  Page 285  |  Page 286  |  Page 287  |  Page 288  |  Page 289  |  Page 290  |  Page 291  |  Page 292  |  Page 293  |  Page 294  |  Page 295  |  Page 296  |  Page 297  |  Page 298  |  Page 299  |  Page 300  |  Page 301  |  Page 302  |  Page 303  |  Page 304  |  Page 305  |  Page 306  |  Page 307  |  Page 308  |  Page 309  |  Page 310  |  Page 311  |  Page 312  |  Page 313  |  Page 314  |  Page 315  |  Page 316  |  Page 317  |  Page 318  |  Page 319  |  Page 320  |  Page 321  |  Page 322  |  Page 323  |  Page 324  |  Page 325  |  Page 326  |  Page 327  |  Page 328  |  Page 329  |  Page 330  |  Page 331  |  Page 332  |  Page 333  |  Page 334  |  Page 335  |  Page 336  |  Page 337  |  Page 338  |  Page 339  |  Page 340  |  Page 341  |  Page 342  |  Page 343  |  Page 344  |  Page 345  |  Page 346  |  Page 347  |  Page 348  |  Page 349  |  Page 350  |  Page 351  |  Page 352  |  Page 353  |  Page 354  |  Page 355  |  Page 356  |  Page 357  |  Page 358  |  Page 359  |  Page 360  |  Page 361  |  Page 362  |  Page 363  |  Page 364  |  Page 365  |  Page 366  |  Page 367  |  Page 368  |  Page 369  |  Page 370  |  Page 371  |  Page 372  |  Page 373  |  Page 374  |  Page 375  |  Page 376