Agnė Jasinavičiūtė, Darijus Veteikis
A new methodology to assess landscape reserves in Lithuania
The first state reserve in Lithuania was established in
1960; however, no detailed assessments of changes in the state of the protected
values therein have been performed ever since. Landscape reserves are the most
complex ones and they pursue the twofold goal – to conserve the values and to
use them sustainably. In order to be resilient themselves, thus contributing to
broader objectives of social-ecological resilience, the reserves should be able
to adapt to ever-changing social and ecological conditions in a way that
supports the long-term persistence of population, communities, and ecosystems
of conservation concern. Therefore, it is necessary to update information on
the status of values protected in the reserves. The article addresses this need
by offering a concise and user-friendly methodology for assessing the status of
landscape reserves. The methodology focuses on three main components: (1)
general features of the landscape structure, (2) the effectiveness of
protection of values and (3) the pressures and threats they experience. Two
state landscape reserves were selected for testing the applicability of the
methodology: one in Vilnius city, the other 50 km to the west, in the
countryside. Application of the common methodology will allow to assess the
condition of landscape reserves in the country. Further development of the
methodology could include evaluation of external pressures (e.g. urbanization)
as well as addition of remote sensing techniques.