IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v8y2015i1p32-d61475.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Fifty-Year Sustainability Assessment of Italian Agro-Forest Districts

Author

Listed:
  • Fabio Recanatesi

    (Department of Agriculture, Forest, Nature and Energy (DAFNE), University of Tuscia, Via S. Camillo de Lellis snc, Viterbo I-01100, Italy)

  • Matteo Clemente

    (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Perugia, Via G. Duranti, 93, Perugia I-06125, Italy)

  • Efstathios Grigoriadis

    (Department of Architecture and Project, La Sapienza University of Rome, Via Flaminia 359, Rome I-00196, Italy)

  • Flavia Ranalli

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Via della Navicella 2–4, Rome I-00184, Italy)

  • Marco Zitti

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Via della Navicella 2–4, Rome I-00184, Italy)

  • Luca Salvati

    (Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Via della Navicella 2–4, Rome I-00184, Italy)

Abstract

As cropland management and land use shifted towards more intensive practices, global land degradation increased drastically. Understanding relationships between ecological and socioeconomic drivers of soil and landscape degradation within these landscapes in economically dynamic contexts such as the Mediterranean region, requires multi-target and multi-scalar approaches covering long-term periods. This study provides an original approach for identifying desertification risk drivers and sustainable land management strategies within Italian agro-forest districts. An Environmental Sensitivity Area (ESA) approach, based on four thematic indicators (climate, soil, vegetation and land-use) and a composite index of desertification risk (ESAI), was used to evaluate changes in soil vulnerability and landscape degradation between the years 1960 and 2010. A multivariate model was developed to identify the most relevant drivers causing changes in land susceptibility at the district scale. Larger districts, and those with a higher proportion of their total surface area classified as agro-forest, had a significantly lower increase in land susceptibility to degradation during the 50 years when compared with the remaining districts. We conclude that preserving economic viability and ecological connectivity of traditional, extensive agricultural systems is a key measure to mitigate the desertification risk in the Mediterranean region.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabio Recanatesi & Matteo Clemente & Efstathios Grigoriadis & Flavia Ranalli & Marco Zitti & Luca Salvati, 2015. "A Fifty-Year Sustainability Assessment of Italian Agro-Forest Districts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(1), pages 1-13, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2015:i:1:p:32-:d:61475
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/1/32/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/8/1/32/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Norman Myers & Russell A. Mittermeier & Cristina G. Mittermeier & Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca & Jennifer Kent, 2000. "Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities," Nature, Nature, vol. 403(6772), pages 853-858, February.
    2. Salvati, Luca & Zitti, Marco, 2008. "Regional convergence of environmental variables: Empirical evidences from land degradation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 162-168, December.
    3. Reshmita Nath & Yibo Luan & Wangming Yang & Chen Yang & Wen Chen & Qian Li & Xuefeng Cui, 2015. "Changes in Arable Land Demand for Food in India and China: A Potential Threat to Food Security," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-27, April.
    4. repec:ipt:wpaper:jrc73276 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Sonia Kéfi & Max Rietkerk & Concepción L. Alados & Yolanda Pueyo & Vasilios P. Papanastasis & Ahmed ElAich & Peter C. de Ruiter, 2007. "Spatial vegetation patterns and imminent desertification in Mediterranean arid ecosystems," Nature, Nature, vol. 449(7159), pages 213-217, September.
    6. Pasquale Borrelli & Panos Panagos & Luca Montanarella, 2015. "New Insights into the Geography and Modelling of Wind Erosion in the European Agricultural Land. Application of a Spatially Explicit Indicator of Land Susceptibility to Wind Erosion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(7), pages 1-14, July.
    7. Hualin Xie & Jinlang Zou & Hailing Jiang & Ning Zhang & Yongrok Choi, 2014. "Spatiotemporal Pattern and Driving Forces of Arable Land-Use Intensity in China: Toward Sustainable Land Management Using Emergy Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 6(6), pages 1-17, May.
    8. Marianne Lefebvre & Maria Espinosa & Sergio Gomez-y-Paloma, 2012. "The influence of the Common Agricultural Policy on agricultural landscapes," JRC Research Reports JRC73276, Joint Research Centre.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Clio Ciaschini & Margherita Carlucci & Francesco Maria Chelli & Giuseppe Ricciardo Lamonica & Luca Salvati, 2022. "The Industrial Pattern of Italian Regions: A Disaggregated Sectoral Analysis Based on Input–Output Tables," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-22, November.
    2. Sallustio, Lorenzo & Harfouche, Antoine L. & Salvati, Luca & Marchetti, Marco & Corona, Piermaria, 2022. "Evaluating the potential of marginal lands available for sustainable cellulosic biofuel production in Italy," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PB).
    3. Margherita Carlucci & Rosanna Salvia & Giovanni Quaranta & Luca Salvati & Vito Imbrenda, 2022. "Official statistics, spatio-temporal dynamics and local-scale monitoring: toward integrated environmental-economic accounting for land degradation," Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 469-491, December.
    4. Liyin Shen & Chenyang Shuai & Liudan Jiao & Yongtao Tan & Xiangnan Song, 2016. "A Global Perspective on the Sustainable Performance of Urbanization," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Dadashpoor, Hashem & Ahani, Somayeh, 2021. "Explaining objective forces, driving forces, and causal mechanisms affecting the formation and expansion of the peri-urban areas: A critical realism approach," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    6. Pere Serra & Montserrat Pallares-Barbera & Luca Salvati, 2023. "Can a long-term economic subsidy counteract rural depopulation? An empirical analysis from two spanish regions," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 3065-3084, August.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. GAO Tianming & Anna Ivolga & Vasilii Erokhin, 2018. "Sustainable Rural Development in Northern China: Caught in a Vice between Poverty, Urban Attractions, and Migration," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Laxmi D. Bhatta & Sunita Chaudhary & Anju Pandit & Himlal Baral & Partha J. Das & Nigel E. Stork, 2016. "Ecosystem Service Changes and Livelihood Impacts in the Maguri-Motapung Wetlands of Assam, India," Land, MDPI, vol. 5(2), pages 1-14, June.
    3. Ferreira, A.S. & Raposo, E.P. & Viswanathan, G.M. & da Luz, M.G.E., 2012. "The influence of the environment on Lévy random search efficiency: Fractality and memory effects," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(11), pages 3234-3246.
    4. Salvati, Luca & Carlucci, Margherita, 2011. "The economic and environmental performances of rural districts in Italy: Are competitiveness and sustainability compatible targets?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(12), pages 2446-2453.
    5. McLennan, D. & Sharma, R., 2012. "The Delivering Ecological Services Index (DESI)," Working papers 119, Rimisp Latin American Center for Rural Development.
    6. Caviedes, Julián & Ibarra, José Tomás & Calvet-Mir, Laura & Álvarez-Fernández, Santiago & Junqueira, André Braga, 2024. "Indigenous and local knowledge on social-ecological changes is positively associated with livelihood resilience in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    7. Maeda, Eduardo Eiji & Clark, Barnaby J.F. & Pellikka, Petri & Siljander, Mika, 2010. "Modelling agricultural expansion in Kenya's Eastern Arc Mountains biodiversity hotspot," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 103(9), pages 609-620, November.
    8. Jaiswal, Sreeja & Balietti, Anca & Schäffer, Daniel, 2023. "Environmental Protection and Labor Market Composition," Working Papers 0736, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    9. Nick Middleton & Utchang Kang, 2017. "Sand and Dust Storms: Impact Mitigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-22, June.
    10. Chomitz, Kenneth M. & Thomas, Timothy S. & Brandão, Antônio Salazar P., 2005. "The economic and environmental impact of trade in forest reserve obligations: a simulation analysis of options for dealing with habitat heterogeneity," Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural (RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 43(4), January.
    11. Elisa Barbour & Lara Kueppers, 2012. "Conservation and management of ecological systems in a changing California," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 111(1), pages 135-163, March.
    12. Bohua Yu & Wei Song & Yanqing Lang, 2017. "Spatial Patterns and Driving Forces of Greenhouse Land Change in Shouguang City, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-15, March.
    13. Tyler M Harms & Kevin T Murphy & Xiaodan Lyu & Shane S Patterson & Karen E Kinkead & Stephen J Dinsmore & Paul W Frese, 2017. "Using landscape habitat associations to prioritize areas of conservation action for terrestrial birds," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, March.
    14. van der Hoff, Richard & Nascimento, Nathália & Fabrício-Neto, Ailton & Jaramillo-Giraldo, Carolina & Ambrosio, Geanderson & Arieira, Julia & Afonso Nobre, Carlos & Rajão, Raoni, 2022. "Policy-oriented ecosystem services research on tropical forests in South America: A systematic literature review," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    15. Brannstrom, Christian, 2001. "Conservation-with-Development Models in Brazil's Agro-Pastoral Landscapes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 1345-1359, August.
    16. Marcela Prokopová & Ondřej Cudlín & Renata Včeláková & Szabolcs Lengyel & Luca Salvati & Pavel Cudlín, 2018. "Latent Drivers of Landscape Transformation in Eastern Europe: Past, Present and Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.
    17. Brendan Fisher & Stephen Polasky & Thomas Sterner, 2011. "Conservation and Human Welfare: Economic Analysis of Ecosystem Services," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 48(2), pages 151-159, February.
    18. Pütz, S. & Groeneveld, J. & Alves, L.F. & Metzger, J.P. & Huth, A., 2011. "Fragmentation drives tropical forest fragments to early successional states: A modelling study for Brazilian Atlantic forests," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 222(12), pages 1986-1997.
    19. Paige, Sarah B. & Malavé, Carly & Mbabazi, Edith & Mayer, Jonathan & Goldberg, Tony L., 2015. "Uncovering zoonoses awareness in an emerging disease ‘hotspot’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 78-86.
    20. Stephanie D. Maier & Jan Paul Lindner & Javier Francisco, 2019. "Conceptual Framework for Biodiversity Assessments in Global Value Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-34, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:8:y:2015:i:1:p:32-:d:61475. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.