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LAND USE AND LAND DEGRADATION AFTER 1991 WITHIN SARATA CATCHMENT, REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

S. Vacula, L. Niacsu, L. M. Albu

Abstract

Land degradation by soil erosion, has been recognized as a major environmental threat in the southern part of the Moldavian Plateau of Republic of Moldova. Implementation of soil and water conservation practices is a very important link to sustainable land use pattern. During the communist period, being a representative catchment from the south of Republic of Moldova, the Sarata catchment was the subject of widespread land improvement projects. After 1991, a varied complex of non-conservative land use actions became generalized and their impact was very marked on soil conservation and crop yields. The major effect of these Acts is the revival of traditional agricultural systems, especially up-and-down hill farming. Thus, the land use changes associated to excessive fragmentation of arable land, land abandonment and deforestation have contributed to enhancement of land degradation through geomorphological processes (soil erosion gullies and landslides, sedimentation). Under these circumstances, our study try to analysis the land use dynamics starting from the 1991s land reforms till present. From methodological point of view, our research is based on the evaluation of land use changes and their impact on land degradation shape based on successive aerial photo in scale 1:5,000, topographical map (in scale 1:25,000) and consistent field observations. The overall results show that the research area emphasizes the negative impact of land use changes on the increasingly land degradation with consequences in reducing soil quality. The present land use pattern of Sarata catchment (70600ha) was strongly influenced by land reforms of 1991. Thus, the prevalence of highly fragmented agricultural lands on 2/3 from total area favored soil erosion, the most widespread process for the entire research area. Also, the need for large-scale (re)implementation of land improvement projects especially on arable lands is substantiated. The study reveals the irrational and defective land use, which negatively influences the quality of soil &land, the main natural resource of the entire country. In conclusion, the land degradation still remains problematically high in the Sarata catchment.

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