Rural Districts between Urbanization and Land Abandonment: Undermining Long-Term Changes in Mediterranean Landscapes

Ilaria Zambon, Agostino Ferrara, Rosanna Salvia, Enrico Maria Mosconi, Luigi Fici, Rosario Turco and Luca Salvati
Additional contact information
Ilaria Zambon: Department of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences (DAFNE), Tuscia University, Via San Camillo de Lellis, I-01100 Viterbo, Italy
Agostino Ferrara: School of Agricultural, Forest, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Basilicata, Via dell’Ateneo Lucano 10, I-85100 Potenza, Italy
Rosanna Salvia: MEDES, Foundation for Sustainable Development of the Mediterranean, C/da San Licandro 1, Sicignano degli Alburni, I-84029 Salerno, Italy
Enrico Maria Mosconi: Department of Economics, Engineering, Society and Business Organization, Tuscia University, Via del Paradiso 47, I-01100 Viterbo, Italy
Luigi Fici: Department of Economics, Engineering, Society and Business Organization, Tuscia University, Via del Paradiso 47, I-01100 Viterbo, Italy
Rosario Turco: Council of Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Viale S. Margherita 80, I-52100 Arezzo, Italy
Luca Salvati: Council of Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Viale S. Margherita 80, I-52100 Arezzo, Italy

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: The present study investigates changes in the rural landscapes of a Mediterranean country (Greece) over a long time period (1970–2015) encompassing economic expansions and recessions. Using a spatial distribution of 5 basic agricultural land-use classes (arable land, garden crop, vineyards, tree crop and fallow land) derived from official statistics at 6 years (1970, 1979, 1988, 1997, 2006, 2015), a quantitative analysis based on correlation and multivariate techniques was carried out to identify recent changes in the Greek agricultural landscape at prefectural level during different economic waves. Empirical results evidenced both intuitive and counter-intuitive landscape transformations, including: (i) a progressive, spatially-homogeneous reduction of cropland; (ii) a (more or less) rapid decrease in the surface of high-input crops, including arable land, horticulture and vineyards; (iii) a parallel increase in the surface of tree crops, especially olive; (iv) a spatially-heterogeneous decrease of fallow land concentrated in metropolitan and tourism districts, especially in the last decade; and, finally, (v) increasingly diversified landscapes in rural, accessible areas close to the sea coast. Based on a correlation analysis with background socioeconomic indicators, our findings reflect the multiple impacts of urbanization and land abandonment on the composition and diversity of rural landscapes. Changes in agricultural land-use were moulded by multiple drivers depending on latent transformations in rural systems and inherent conflicts with expanding urban regions. Together with market conditions and the Common Agricultural Policy subsidy regime, social contexts and the economic cycle are important when identifying long-term changes in agricultural landscapes, especially in transitional socio-ecological systems.

Keywords: land-use changes; fallow land; indicators; multivariate analysis; Greece (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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