SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF ECOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE RURAL AREAS: CASE STUDIES OF THE MORAVIAN KARST (CZECH REPUBLIC) AND THE DEVETASHKO PLATO (BULGARIA)

The paper is aimed at an analysis and comparison of two karst areas. Among common problems of both territories are: sewage of untreated waste water from settlements and industrial plants to the underground space, infiltration of fertilizers and pesticides to underground spaces during torrential rains, washing away the topsoil into the underground space. The main difference consist in geographical positions. Whereas Moravian Karts is situated in the vicinity of the regional center Brno and is partly a subject of suburbanization, Devetashko Plato marked depopulation tendencies. From it follows that Moravian Karst is under pressure of urbanization and tourism which compete with landscape protection. On the other side, Devetashko Plato area is not socially sustainable. These conditions create different approaches for the future management. In any case, the imaginations about the quantitative development should be abandoned. In both the cases the territories have to ensure sustainability in all three pillars: environmental, social and economic.
Problems of Geography, 2016, Vol.3-4, p. 65-84