Landnutzung, ländliche Entwicklung und Gefährdung der Kaspischen Wälder

Bonn

2005

S. 89-97

Artikel aus einer ZeitschriftUnselbständiges Werk

200125357

Nearly since 8-10 thousand years - that means since the middle stoneage - the region of the Caspian forest was thinly populated. The wood pasture became the main source of the population in the Caspian forest by domestication of wild animals. Traditionally agriculture is carried out on a few favourite locations. According to this fact the traditional lifestyle of shepherds and the wood population has hardly changed. Nowadays the population of the Caspian forest is estimated at 1,3 mill. people, who are distributed on 200.000 households. The main focus of population lies on settlements with 6-50 households (48%). That supports a great decentral population pressure. This tendency is emphasized by the average size of the landownership per household. The landownership per household on average is below one hectare and therefore falls below the limit of subsistence farming. Accordingly the wood pasture is necessary as an additional source of income, and in settlements below 100 inhabitants even predominant. Since the year 1986 the diminuation of livestock to 20% is succeeded. Nowadays we have to assume about 3,6 mill. animals. Almost half of the stocking still is managed by nomadic people. The resulting problems are partly of pedological origin, because of the fact on steep sloped areas agriculture based upon rainfall is only partially possible. Therefore permanent useable agricultural grounds were situated in the small coastal plain, which is intensively used. The population pressure attracts attention in different ways: by high use of firewood, illegal clearing of wood, biting off and uprooting of young shoots, wide distributed pick up of the peaks, compression of the forest soil by tracking illegal felling of broad crowned timber to favourite the pasture vegetation on the forest soil. Therefore the aim has to be the resettlement of the wood population out of the forest. At the same time agricultural and forestry cooperatives and in integrate management in the forest and water catchement areas should lead to an effective protection of wood.