The Productive Landscape in the Desert Margin for the Sustainable Development of Rural Settlements: An Innovative Greenbelt for Maranjab Desert in Iran

Mahnaz Sarlak, Laura Valeria Ferretti and Rita Biasi
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Mahnaz Sarlak: Department of Architecture and Design and Ph.D. Program in Landscape and Environment, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Laura Valeria Ferretti: Department of Architecture and Design, Sapienza University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy
Rita Biasi: Department for Innovation in Biological Agrofood and Forest Systems, Tuscia University, 01100 Viterbo, Italy

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-21

Abstract: About two billion rural individuals depend on agricultural systems associated with a high amount of risk and low levels of yield in the drylands of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Human activities, climate change and natural extreme events are the most important drivers of desertification. This phenomenon has occurred in many regions of Iran, particularly in the villages in the periphery of the central desert of Iran, and has made living in the oases so difficult that the number of abandoned villages is increasing every year. Land abandonment and land-use change increase the risk of desertification. This study aims to respond to the research questions: (i) does the planning of green infrastructures on the desert margin affect the distribution and balance of the population? (ii) how should the green belt be designed to have the greatest impact on counteracting desertification?, and (iii) does the design of productive landscape provide the solution? Through a wide-ranging and comprehensive approach, this study develops different scenarios for designing a new form of green belt in order to sustainably manage the issues of environmental protection, agricultural tradition preservation and desertification counteraction. This study proposes a new-traditional greenbelt including small low-cost and low-tech projects adapted to rural scale.

Keywords: artificial groundwater recharge; cultural landscape; desertification; land-use changes; multifunctional agriculture; oasification; rural-urban migration; soil degradation; traditional agricultural practices (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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