2006-2012 Land Cover and Use Changes in Romania – An Overall Assessment Based on Corine Data

Abstract

Land cover and use changes are an important component of the global changes, and in relationship with their transitional dynamics reflect the impact of socio-economic transition. This study is aimed at exploring the land cover and use changes occurred during 2006-2012 in Romania with respect to their spatial distribution over the regions of development and main transitional dynamics. The results suggest that the main drivers of change are deforestation and urbanization, accounting for 3/4 of all changes, and that the most affected regions are the northwest, southwest, center and northeast ones. Overall, the findings suggest a continuation of the trends from the previous periods, characteristic to transition economies.

Keywords

• global changes
• transitional dynamics
• hotspots
• deforestation
• urbanization