Historical GIS as a Tool for Monitoring, Preserving and Planning Forest Landscape: A Case Study in a Mediterranean Region

Giuseppe Cillis, Dina Statuto and Pietro Picuno
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Giuseppe Cillis: SAFE School of Agricultural, Forest, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Viale Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Dina Statuto: SAFE School of Agricultural, Forest, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Viale Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Pietro Picuno: SAFE School of Agricultural, Forest, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Viale Ateneo Lucano, 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 8, 1-20

Abstract: In order to assess the dynamics of forests and the effectiveness of their management strategies, it is necessary to develop monitoring systems based on qualitative and quantitative tools for their conservation, valorization and restoration. This approach is particularly important for areas that have undergone intense anthropogenic transformations in the last century. In order to do this, it is first necessary to apply a chronological methodology based on historical GIS that allows the integration of different types of geodata. As a result of constantly evolving spatial analysis tools, the monitoring of landscape forest evolution is increasingly more effective and complete. Using as a case study a region representative of common processes of other Mediterranean areas (Southern Italy–Basilicata region), a diachronic analysis of 156 years was applied to evaluate the forest landscape dynamics. Starting from historical cartographies to remotely sensed data available online, a GIS-based approach was implemented to evaluate the spatial and statistical variations of the forest landscape. In this way, it was possible to assess how much, where and how the forest landscape has changed in order to provide a methodology to support more detailed and sectoral studies.

Keywords: GIS; FoSS; historical cartography; thematic map classification; Mediterranean forest; Basilicata region; Southern Italy; forest landscape (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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