Assessment land use dynamics in the border areas of Ukraine and Poland: a case study of Ratne Territorial Community and Lenchna County

Abstract

Assessment of land use changes is crucial for various tasks, including ecological and agricultural monitoring, land management, and sustainable development planning in different regions. While direct field surveys suffice for small areas, Earth remote sensing tools are recommended for larger regions. On a small scale, such assessments are feasible over a 40-year period (using images from the first series of Landsat satellites), whereas on a medium and large scale, assessments can be made every 10–15 years (and with access to commercial satellite data, it can extend up to 20–25 years). Presently, numerous new satellite data and processing tools are available, offering extensive opportunities for land use analysis for various purposes. Both Ukraine and Poland provide notable examples of the development and successful application of Land Use Change assessment methods by individual researchers. For instance, D. Malchikova (2010) outlined the conceptual aspects of using GIS/RS (remote sensing) technologies to study the territorial structure of land use in Ukraine. Detailed assessment of landscape diversity based on RS data was described in the works of T. Kuchma (2016). The work of Zelyk Y. I., Kussul N. M., Shelestov A. Yu., Yaylimov B. Ya. (2017) investigates the features of deciphering satellite data for land use purposes, along with their validation using ground observations. It also shares their own experience in land cover mapping in Ukraine. In 2019, the large environmental organization "Ecoaction" published a comprehensive study on land use assessment based on space images. Additionally, the work of Malashevskyi, M., Kovalchuk, I., & Malashevska, O. (2021) provides examples of identifying the dynamics of rural settlements using GIS-RS methods. Numerous publications have focused on assessing and modeling land use changes influenced by natural and socioeconomic factors. Works by T. Noszczyk, J. Hernik, A. Rutkowska (2020) and R.A.Castanho, J.M. Naranjo, J.Kurowska-Pysz (2019) stand as notable examples. Particularly intriguing are studies of changes in territories that have undergone socio-political transformations. For instance, there are interesting works on the assessment of land management changes in post-Soviet countries and their regions by J. Stefanski, B. Waske, Ol. Chaskovskyy (2014) and in post-socialist regions of Eastern Europe by T. Kuemmerle et al. (2008) and K. Cegielska et al. (2018). The detection of changes in such cases clearly indicates significant differences in approaches to land management and territorial administration. In our work, we also aimed to evaluate changes in land use at the level of small administrative units in closely located areas of Ukraine and Poland. By focusing on these specific regions, we can gain valuable insights into the intricacies of land use dynamics and the influences of socio-political transformations on land management practices.