Recent population development in sensitive karst areas: case studies Moravian karst (Czech Republic) and Devetaki plateau (Republic of Bulgaria)

0500828 - ÚGN 2019 RIV BG eng J - Článek v odborném periodiku
Vaishar, Antonín - Zapletalová, Jana - Dvořák, Petr - Stefanová, D. - Tcherkezova, E.
Recent population development in sensitive karst areas: case studies Moravian karst (Czech Republic) and Devetaki plateau (Republic of Bulgaria).
Problems of Geography. 3-4, 3-4 (2018), s. 89-110. ISSN 0204-7209
Institucionální podpora: RVO:68145535
Klíčová slova: depopulation * Moravian Karst * Devetashko Plateau * Czech Republic * Republic of Bulgaria
Obor OECD: Physical geography
http://geoproblems.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2018_34/6_vaishar.pdf

The paper is aimed at analysing the recent population development sensitive
areas, comparing two karst areas – one in the Czech Republic and one in the Republic of Bulgaria.
Methodologically, crude data from population balances and population censuses were
used. The Moravian Karst is an area situated in the vicinity of Brno – the administrative center
of Moravia region, and, therefore, is subjected to suburbanisation processes, which puts the
Moravian Karst area under pressure by urbanisation and tourism on the one hand, “fighting”
with landscape protection on the other hand. Although this rural territory is unsuitable for intensive
agricultural production, it does not really mean it is uninhabited, nor does it mean it is
depopulated. The Devetashko Plateau on the other hand is a plateau situated in the vicinity of
Lovech – a city ten times smaller than Brno in terms of population number. Commuting in that
area is more difficult, regarding the age and qualification structure of the population, as well
as the existing transport conditions. The micro-region is depopulated, while population aging
is extreme. The differences between the compared areas are the result of their geographical location,
level of dependence on primary economic activities and socio-historical development.
The aging processes are highly likely to continue in the future. In the Moravian Karst area, the
population development is slow, which makes it easier to cope with. The drawdown of some
settlements in the Devetashko Plateau area was rapid and too deep, to a point where hardly
any remedies are possible. The following factors have been suggested to have the greatest
impact on the rural depopulation: the overall population development in the country, the vicinity
of a regional center, the state of the urbanisation processes, the level of dependence on
the primary economic sector, the efficiency of the transport systems, the excessive cultural
diversity, as well as some other individual circumstances.
Trvalý link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0292870