The protection of cumanian mounds examination of the smallholder judgement of measure

Abstract

There were remarkable changes in agricultural regulation concerning Cumanian mounds in the EU – and in Hungary too – in 2010. They were declared protected landscape elements therefore they became part of crosscompliance. In our research we will check the results of the new regulation in relation to the changes in the state of Cumanian mounds in Békés County. Cumanian mounds are several thousand years old man made formations, which are significant from botanical, scenery, archeological and religious points of view, they are our national treasures. Their destruction has accelerated in recent decades. The association organized a national conference for the protection of the mounds, where they formulated recommendations. This initiative has reached such a level, that in 2010 the statute protecting the mounds was raised to a European Union level, thus their protection became comprehensive. The new regulation became a source of conflict among small-holders. For the detection of this tension, and for the possibilities of a solution, we conducted an empirical study, a sociological survey with a deep-interview method among Békés-County small-holders as well as the experts of the subject. From our results it’s evident, that the destruction of the mounds isn’t the consequence of conscious activity by smallholders, it can rather be attributed to the lack of knowledge and to ignorance. In our study we recommend the expansion of small-holders’ knowledge, we have determined that the recommendations made at the time conform to the requirements of the present.