Proposal of a Nomenclature for Hydrogeological Instability Risks and Case Studies of Conservative Soil Tillage for Environmental Protection

Davide Puccio, Antonio Comparetti, Carlo Greco and Salvatore Raimondi
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Davide Puccio: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Antonio Comparetti: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Carlo Greco: Council for Agricultural Research and Economics (CREA), Research Centre Protection and Certification, Bagheria, 90011 Palermo, Italy
Salvatore Raimondi: Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: In order to implement environmental protection, within the Soil Cadastre, previously proposed as a multipurpose inventory that aims to promote sustainable soil uses, the hydrogeological instability caused by human activities is the focus of this work. These activities can be aimed at sustainable agricultural soil use or the building of roads to allow the access to the fields. The soil’s hydrogeological instability causes the unsustainable use and management of a cadastral parcel. Therefore, the aim of this work is to propose a nomenclature for hydrogeological instability risks, as well as the best practices of conservative soil tillage in case studies, in order to reduce environmental impact. According to the proposed Soil Cadastre, the missing environmental sustainability of a parcel and the reason for this must be communicated to the field owner or manager. In a hilly area of inland Western Sicily, four main risk types of hydrogeological instability were identified: hydrogeological instability (caused only by natural factors); hydraulic-pedological farming instability (crop not suitable for the field for missing or insufficient soil drainage and landslides); hydraulic-infrastructural instability (built up infrastructures unsuitable for the site); hydraulic-infrastructural-pedological-management instability (field improvements changing the downflow line and crop operations not suitable for the soil and climate parameters). The farm owner or manager must be informed about the risk type affecting their fields in order to perform the best practices (i.e., conservative soil tillage), for implementing or restoring a sustainable soil use or management in each cadastral parcel.

Keywords: soil management; sustainable development; environmental sustainability; Soil Cadastre; best practices; agricultural mechanisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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