Priority Areas for Initiating Land Consolidations Related to Erosion and Water Retention in the Landscape, Czech Republic

Land consolidations represent a unique tool for managing the problems of the rural space. They help to settle the land property rights and meet the current requirements associated with the protection and formation of a stable, permanently sustainable rural landscape. In the Czech Republic, complex land consolidations have been completed in 1,965 cadastral areas out of the total 13,100, and in 2,134 more they are in the preparation phase (up to 1st September 2015). It means that about 60% of cadastral areas in CR still await land consolidation. Our study aimed to localize the priority localities (cadastral areas and regions) for preferential implementation of land consolidation. The authors selected three thematic factors to determine the risk of their occurrence in particular localities and, consequently, the need to initiate the land consolidation. The analysis is based on the assumption that the cadastral areas where land consolidations have been completed or are under way have already dealt with the above-mentioned risk factors or will do so soon. Therefore, such areas have not been included into our study. The key selected thematic factors relevant for the preferential implementation of land consolidation include: the risk of water and wind erosion in arable land, water management, and water retention in the landscape. For each of these three factors, a map of preferential localities (based on the degree of risk/suitability) was processed for initiation of land consolidation. At the same time, a simple multi-criteria analysis of the extent of the Czech Republic’s erosion (water and wind) has been prepared. The result of this analysis is the ranking of regions according to the degree of risk of erosion. The most vulnerable regions of the Czech Republic include Jihomoravský (South Moravian Region), Středočeský (Central Bohemia) and Pardubice.