Present Changes in European Rural Landscapes - Landscape Modelling: Geographical Space, Transformation and Future Scenarios - page 23

landscape does not mean a precarious rejection of changes but an evaluation of
whether and how the changes comply with or counteract natural processes, whether
they affect the landscape's ecological stability and biodiversity negatively, whether
they endanger landscape values and exceed its carrying capacity etc. (Lipský, 2000).
The focus of research in landscape ecology needs to be on how landscape dynamics
interacts with species tolerances in time and space (Dunn, Sharpe, Guntenspergen,
Stearns, & Yang, 1991).
Present trends in developments and different aspects of the existence of the
new wilderness in the cultural landscape are now a matter of discussion among
scientists, landscape planners, managers and stakeholders. There are widely vary-
ing opinions from specialists as well as stakeholders concerning current landscape
changes, especially concerning the abandonment of agricultural lands. The origin of
the new wilderness causes a serious dilemma for nature and landscape conservation:
whether to resist the natural processes of succession and ecological stabilisation of
the landscape in favour of the protection of some species and a traditional landscape
character or let natural processes take their course?
As every cultural landscape is a mirror of the state and development of society,
man carries a great responsibility for the state of the landscape and its functions
and values as well as having a possibility to improve them. Transition from the
industrial to the post-industrial global information age - this is a crucial period of
great dangers but also of great opportunities in which we are confronted with the
choice between further evolution on the Earth or its final extinction (Naveh, 2000).
One of the main problems in contemporary landscape planning and management
is the high number of actors that have territorial competence. In a definitive effect,
the land owner (private or public) is the only one who can make real, material and
tangible changes (Antrop, 2008).
Acknowledgments The paper was prepared with support of the research plan of the Czech
Ministry of Education (No. MSM 0021620831) Geographical Systems and Risk Processes in the
Context of Global Changes and the European Integration as well as the research project of the
Czech Ministry of Education (2B06013) Implementation of the European Landscape Convention
in Intensively Utilised Agricultural Regions with Significant Signs of Historical Landscape Design
Activities - A Pilot Study Nové Dvory-Kacina .
References
Antrop, M. (2008). Landscapes at risk: About change in the European landscapes. In: P. Dostál
(Ed.), Evolution of geographical systems and risk processes in the global context (pp. 57-79).
Prague: Charles University.
Aspinall, R. (2006). Editorial. Journal of Land Use Science, 1 (1), 1-4.
Bicík, I. (1998). Land use in the Czech republic 1845-1948-1990. In: Methodology, interpretation,
contexts . Geographica-Suppl. Prague: Acta Universitatis Carolinae.
Bicík, I. Jelecek, L. (2003). Long term research of LUCC in Czechia 1845-2000. In: L. Jelecek,
et al. (Eds.), Dealing with Diversity (pp. 224-231). Prague: Charles University.
Bicík, I., & Kupková, L. (2005). Long-term changes in landscape use in czechia. Historická
Geografie (Historical Geography), 1 (33), 346-366 (in Czech).