Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
East
Germany
West
Germany
Czechia
Slovakia
Austria
Hungary
Fig. 6.7 Schematic map showing studied belt on both sides of the Iron Curtain (Source: own
calculations, Najman, 2008)
stretching along the Iron Curtain (15 km on each side) from the Baltic Sea to former
Yugoslavia (Fig. 6.7). Partial results are depicted in the tables (Table 6.2, 6.3 and
6.4); see Najman (2008) for more details. Several conclusions may be drawn from
these data.
Table 6.2 (index of change) shows that land-cover changes in the studied period
were much higher to the east from the Iron Curtain. The most intensive changes
occurred on the Czech side of borders with former West Germany and Austria.
A mixture of political and economic reasons probably caused this difference.
This territory could return to normal economic use once the restrictions connected
with the Iron Curtain were abolished in 1990. Then, market forces began to influence
the use of land, causing the landscape to return to a “normal” or “natural” course
Table 6.2
Index of change (IC, %, 1990-2000) in the belt along the Iron Curtain in different
countries 3
Index of change (%)
Section of the Iron Curtain
East
West
West Germany-East
Germany
3.2
1.8
West Germany-Czechia
12.3
2.2
Austria-Czechia
9.3
0.2
Austria-Slovakia
7.4
0.2
Austria-Hungary
6.6
0.6
All observed territories
6.3
1.3
a Explanation: EAST denotes a belt 15 km wide to the east from the Iron Curtain; WEST denotes
a belt 15 km wide to the west from it. See text for more explanation.
 
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