Long-Term Landscape Dynamics to Assess Land Degradation Hypotheses—An Exploratory Study of Evidence from Travelers’ Narrations

Vassilis Detsis, Eleni Gkadolou, Katerina Koutsovoulou and Georgios Tolias
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Vassilis Detsis: Department of Economics and Sustainable Development, Harokopio University, Venizelou 70, 176 76 Athens, Greece
Eleni Gkadolou: Department of Economics and Sustainable Development, Harokopio University, Venizelou 70, 176 76 Athens, Greece
Katerina Koutsovoulou: Department of Economics and Sustainable Development, Harokopio University, Venizelou 70, 176 76 Athens, Greece
Georgios Tolias: Institute of Historical Research, National Hellenic Research Foundation, 48 Vassileos Constantinou Ave., 116 35 Athens, Greece

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-14

Abstract: The present study aims to provide a method for extending the scope of empirical landscape studies into the more distant past and to use it to contribute to the discourse on land degradation in the Mediterranean area. In many areas of the world, the lack of spatially explicit sources, such as historical land cover maps and cadasters, is an obstacle to extending the study of landscape dynamics in the past. Information mined from travelers’ texts can be used to overcome it. Landscape descriptions retrieved from W.M. Leake’s narration of his travels in Peloponnese, Greece, in 1805 and 1806, were georeferenced and used to test for the occurrence of land degradation by comparing historical to current landscapes. A widespread transition of natural vegetation to agricultural areas was found mostly in low altitudes. Limited rewilding occurred on steeper slopes. About a third of the historical Greek fir forests were degraded to open stands. A total of 40% of the locations covered by deciduous oak forests were converted to agricultural areas; most of the rest of these locations were converted to vegetation types characteristic of lower precipitation and soil fertility. Long-term dynamics can be efficiently assessed using narrations as a source of information. The comparison of early 19th century descriptions with the current condition suggests that limited land degradation did take place in the previous centuries in the study area.

Keywords: deciduous oaks forest; Greek fir forest; land cover; land degradation; land use; landscape history; Peloponnese; travelers’ narrations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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