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Table 3 Statements emerged from the interviews about several situations in the studied settlement areas, with + as confirmation, – as negation, / as not determined or relevant and the numbers 1–14 representing the settlements (see Tables 1, 2)

From: Factors of land abandonment in mountainous Mediterranean areas: the case of Montenegrin settlements

Statement

Settlement number

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

Land is mainly used for grass cutting instead of crops

/

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

/

+

Most fields are abandoned and overgrown by bushes

+

+

+

+

+

The katuns in the mountains are still used nowadays

+

/

+

+

+

/

/

Now there are more forested areas around the village

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

… because people cut less trees now

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

There is more forest but of less quality now than before

/

+

+

+

+

+

/

/

There is more degraded forest now due to forest fires

+

+

+

+

+

+

There are high quality trees for construction wood

+

+

+

+

+

+

Residents still collect mushrooms or berries in the forest

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

Residents made kreč or charcoal with degraded wood

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

Now there are more (fruit) trees in the village

/

/

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

/

+

+

+

There are erosion processes

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

There are karst phenomena

+

+

+

+

+

+

People cleaned farmlands of stones and made walls of it

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

There are terraces

+

+

+

+

+

There are lynchets

+

+

+

+

+

+

It is still difficult to survive due to the lack of water

+

+

+

+

Residents built (a part of) their roads or electricity

+

/

/

+

+

/

+

Residents still burn their garbage or throw it in the river

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

There is a pro-Serbian mentality in the settlement

+

+

+

+

+

+

/

The main emigrations were in the 1970s

+

+

/

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

The main emigrations were in the 1990s

+

+

/

+

+

+

Now only the elderly people remain to live here

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

+

Only a few families live here during the winter

+

+

+

+

+

+