Land Planning, Agro-forest Systems, and Implications for Ecosystem Services: Insights from Northern Italy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.13052/spee1048-5236.4011Keywords:
Land degradation, syndromes of change, ecosystem services, forests, mediterranean region.Abstract
Negative environmental changes generally addressed as ‘syndromes’ are
evaluated in the context of Soil Degradation (SD) and interpreted by using
a ‘Land-Use/Land Cover Changes’ (LULCCs) framework in order to dis-
entangle ‘past trajectories’, ‘present patterns’, and ‘future changes’. This
approach allows to discuss the potential impact on SD processes and it
represents an informed basis for identifying measurable outcomes of SD.
This study focuses on the case of Emilia Romagna, a region located in
the North of Italy with high-value added agricultural productions. A multi-
temporal analysis of land-use changes between 1954 and 2008 has been proposed, discussing the evolution of associated SD syndromes in Emilia
Romagna. The contributing information have been used as a baseline for
Sustainable Land Management (SLM) strategies. This framework of analysis
provides useful tools to investigate and to monitor the effects of SD in the
Mediterranean basin where several regions underwent common development
patterns yelding global pathological symptoms of environmental degradation.
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