Remus PRĂVĂLIE¹, Daniel PEPTENATU² & Igor SIRODOEV^3
1Bucharest University – Faculty of Geography, 1 Nicolae Bălcescu str., Romania; email: pravalie_remus@yahoo.com
²Bucharest University – Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Research on Territorial Dynamics, 4-12 Regina
Elisabeta str., Bucharest, Romania; email: peptenatu@yahoo.fr
³Institute of Ecology and Geography, Moldavian Academy of Sciences, 1, Academiei str., Chisinau, Republic of
Moldova; email:ingvarr_i@yahoo.com

THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON THE DYNAMICS OF AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS IN SOUTH-WESTERN ROMANIA

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The study means to quantify the impact of aridification on the dynamics of agriculturalproductionsystems in South-Western Romania, where the consequences of climate change become evermore visible. Vast tracts of farmland and especially arable land are nowadays increasingly impacted byrecurring droughts, which caused the aridification of large areas, and occasionally the completeelimination of vegetation. The question arises, in this context dominated by these phenomena, how do theother components of the impacted territorial systems react. This study establishes a correlation betweenthe evolution of the aridification process and the dynamic of water resources at regional level, the latterbeing a vital component in the development of agricultural-production systems. Research methodologyincluded a detailed analysis of aridification in correlation with the fluctuation of certain hydrological andhydrogeological parameters, as well as, indirectly, an analysis of the connection between water resourcesand regional crops. The results obtained emphasize the decline of agricultural-production systems as aresult of the expansion of aridification and the decommissioning of irrigation systems which, over a longtime, had compensated the absence of precipitations.