Mechthild Roth Livres

Following the Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Agenda 21 was established as an action plan for environmental improvement and sustainable development. Transformation countries in the former Eastern Bloc, including Ukraine, are still in the early stages of implementing sustainability due to complex economic and administrative restructuring. A significant barrier to progress is the absence of scientifically grounded concepts for sustainable natural resource use that also promote economic prosperity. Rural cultural landscapes in Ukraine, characterized by agriculture and forestry, hold high conservation value but face potential disruption from the global market economy. A multidisciplinary research project, funded by the BMBF and supported by UNESCO, involved Ukrainian and German scientists developing sustainability concepts for rural landscapes in Western Ukraine. The studies focused on the Upper Dnister Basin, a river system representative of much of Western Ukraine and other mountainous regions in Central Eastern Europe. Three model regions were selected: the Carpathians, Precarpathians, and Podolian Plate. Sustainability concepts were formulated based on assessments of natural site conditions, biodiversity, land use systems, and sociodemography, with particular attention to agricultural practices, forestry, and flood management, including their economic implications.