Land-Use Changes in the Sele River Basin Landscape (Southern Italy) between 1960 and 2012: Comparisons and Implications for Soil Erosion Assessment

Paolo Magliulo, Angelo Cusano and Filippo Russo
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Paolo Magliulo: Department of Sciences and Technologies, University of Sannio, via F. de Sanctis s.n.c., 82100 Benevento, Italy
Angelo Cusano: Department of Sciences and Technologies, University of Sannio, via F. de Sanctis s.n.c., 82100 Benevento, Italy
Filippo Russo: Department of Sciences and Technologies, University of Sannio, via F. de Sanctis s.n.c., 82100 Benevento, Italy

Geographies, 2021, vol. 1, issue 3, 1-18

Abstract: In river basins, the deep interrelationships between land-use changes, soil erosion and rivers and shoreline dynamics are clearer than at a national or regional scale. Southern Italy is an ecologically fragile, desertification-prone territory where land-use changes in the last decades were significant. Notwithstanding this, studies dealing with multidecadal land-use changes in large-sized river basins of Southern Italy and their implications on soil erosion are missing. In this study, we assessed the land-use changes that occurred between 1960 and 2012 in the 3245 km 2 -wide Sele River basin. We carried out GIS-aided comparisons and analysis of two land-use maps and interpreted the results in terms of soil erosion intensity based on a detailed review of the scientific literature. The results confirmed the trend of the inner areas of Italy and, in particular, of the Campania region moving towards more pristine conditions, with an increase in forest cover, mainly at the expense of grasslands. Agricultural areas remained substantially unchanged, while the area of urban settlements increased. The diffuse afforestation of slopes suggested an overall decrease in soil erosion intensity, which was fully coherent with the geomorphological evolution of both the Sele River and local shoreline reported in literature.

Keywords: land-cover changes; afforestation; geographical information systems; human impacts; geomorphology; Campania region; Mediterranean area (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q15 Q5 Q53 Q54 Q56 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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