Dirk Strijker
Groningen University, the Netherlands

In the central agricultural areas of Europe agricultural land is highly valued and intensively used. However, in the more peripheral and less productive parts there is a serious risk for land abandonment. The risk for land abandonment is one of the official European Union indicators for monitoring the environmental qualities. In this presentation the main drivers for land abandonment are discussed, both on micro and meso level. It is found that elevation and distance to urban centers are reliable indicators for the risk of abandonment. Abandonment has both negative economic and ecological consequences.