Traditional Farming Systems and Transition Pathways to Sustainable Agriculture: A Comparative Analysis of Institutions and Cooperation in Romanian and Ukrainian Rural Areas of the Carpathian Mountains

Abstract

From Introduction: "The paper presents results of socioeconomic surveys carried out in rural areas of the Romanian and Ukrainian Carpathians. These results give a first overview on land use practices conducted by the local population to manage their mountain grasslands. This is done to trace back the land use change occurring in the region and to identify the main problems and drivers of this process and depict changes in management of the common resources in future. The second part of the paper deals with the theoretical framework which presents our vision of management of commons in general and specifically in the mountain areas under study. The methods used in the study and in data collection are documented in the third part of the paper. The conducted surveys are parts of two projects which are also presented in part three. This part also deals with the most important information about the study areas. The most interesting preliminary results of the surveys are that there are similarities as well as differences between the study areas in Romania and in Ukraine. They are described in part four. It is important to keep in mind that the surveys were only a part of the larger projects and that they will be incorporated into further work at the study sites. That is why the fifth part will present the implications for the envisaged broader research in the region of the Carpathian Mountains."