ESTIMATION OF COSTS FOR MAINTAINING LANDSCAPE ELEMENTS BY THE EXAMPLE OF SOUTHWEST GERMANY

In comparison to large-scale natural landscapes separated from extensively used agricultural production landscapes in North America or Australia, German and Central Europe landscapes are all charac-terised by predominantly agricultural landscapes with few "rests of nature". Due to the high population density, different types of land users demand different functions of the landscape. In addition to food production, there is a high demand for protection of cultural heritage by caring for e.g. hedge-rows in the landscape. The aim of this study was to estimate the costs arising from the maintenance of landscape elements in landscapes situated on land with different site conditions. As an example, the distribution of hedgerows on sites of varying agricultural quality were considered. The calculations were undertaken on the entire area of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Southwest Germany, comprising various administrative districts. The association between ecological and economic information was analysed statistically and with the help of GIS. The results indicate that the costs for landscape element protection differ within the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg and that there is a lot of economic pressure against hedgerow biotopes existing in certain districts. Measures for protection such as agri-environmental programmes should consider the different landscape-dependent costs.