OPTIMIZATION OF AGRICULTURE IN RELATION TO THE MULTIFUNCTIONAL ROLE OF THE LANDSCAPE

Currently, there is much discussion about the future of Czech agricult ural policy and landscape management systems. In recent years, the Cze ch Ministries of Agriculture and Environment have been funding numerou s projects oriented toward crop production restructuring and landscape management mainly in the submontane and montane regions. The lowlands and plains are exploited for intensive agricultural production, but t he results of our research show that in the most agriculturally intens ive areas, up to 350 m above sea level, unchecked denaturalization of Czech rivers and their general ecological status has occurred. Our lar ge-scale study on the ecological importance of Moravian rivers has cle arly shown the necessity to reclaim part of the arable land in favour of forests and permanent grasslands in flood plains, particularly alon g the plain rivers. In order to diminish the percentage of those Morav ian rivers and floodplains which have been strongly impacted upon or a re even considered to be entirely artificial, both reclimation and res toration are essential. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights rese rved.