Land use changes in the border zone. A case study of the Polish-Belarusian border in the village of Milenkowce

Motives: The study was motivated by the changes in land use in the border village of Milenkowce in the period of 1975–2021, as recorded in the cadastre (Land and Buildings Register) and visualized on orthophotomaps. The territory of the northeastern border area and the problem of agricultural land abandonment have been addressed by only a few researchers to date. Aim: The aim of this study was to perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of land use changes as well as changes in the regulations on land use data acquisition and storage. Results: The study demonstrated that the Land and Buildings Register (EGiB) regulations did not affect the land use groups and subgroups registered in the cadastral records. The changes in land use in the border village of Milenkowce were minor and mainly involved an increase in forest area at the expense of agricultural land. The spatial pattern of land use changes, measured by the Morans’I Global index, revealed no statistically significant clustering or dispersion.