Land use changes in Poland during transformation: Case study of Wielkopolska region

The most popular quantitative measure of landscape is land use. The most frequent data sources of land use are satellite images, aerial photographs and maps. Another source of the data can also be land cadaster. The advantages of research based on data from land registers are their relatively good accessibility, nationwide coverage and updates at equal yearly intervals, and the direct possibility to combine the data with statistics published for administrative units. The author of this paper used the above resources to analyse land use changes in the region of Wielkopolska (Poland) in the period of system transformation (1989–2005). The analysis was performed using a synthetic measure of the landscape change, being a quotient of the share of land where hardened ground are dominant and land where biologically active areas prevail. The analysis showed that although the rate of land use changes decreased after 1989, it was marked with spatial irregularity and the differences became greater over time. The changes depend on environmental conditions to a very small extent. For the most part it was the socio-economic factors that caused land use changes, primarily the economic activity of residents. Economically underdeveloped regions were intensively afforested, nevertheless environmental conditions are favourable to technical development. Therefore underdeveloped areas should be stimulated, particularly in the scope of education and entrepreneurship. Such stimulating actions should be emphasised in regional programming documents, especially in the province development strategy.