Luigi Perini

Linking trajectories of land change, land degradation processes and ecosystem services

Land Degradation (LD) is a complex phenomenon resulting in a progressive reduction in the capacity of providing ecosystem services (ES). Landscape transformations promoting an unsustainable use of land often reveal latent processes of LD. An evaluation carried out in respect to the different ecosystem services is nowadays regarded as the most appropriate approach for assessing the effects of LD. The aim of this study is to develop an evaluation framework for identifying the linkages between land changes, LD processes and ES and suggesting Sustainable Land Management (SLM) options suited to reverse (or mitigate) LD impact. A SWOT analysis was carried out with the aim to identify internal and external factors that are favorable (or unfavorable) to achieve the proposed SLM actions. The study areas are the Fortore valley and the Valpadana, in Italy. The main trajectory identified for the Fortore valley is related to land abandonment due to population aging and the progressive emigration started in the 1950s. The most relevant LD processes are soil erosion and geomorphological instability, affecting regulating services such as natural hazard and erosion control. SLM options should consider interventions to contrast geomorphological instability, the promotion of climate smart agriculture and of typical products, and an efficient water resources management. The main trajectories identified for Valpadana are related to urban expansion and farmland abandonment and, as a consequence, land take due to anthropogenic pressure and woodland expansion as the main LD process. The reduction of food production was identified as the most relevant provisioning service affected. SLM should envisage best practices finalized to water saving and soil consumption reduction: efficient irrigation solutions, climate smart agriculture and zero sealing practices. This study highlights the diagnostic value of the suggested approach where LD processes are elicited from land change trajectories determining specific impacts on ES and providing operational support for the implementation of SLM options.

Unraveling Landscape Complexity: Land Use/Land Cover Changes and Landscape Pattern Dynamics (1954–2008) in Contrasting Peri-Urban and Agro-Forest Regions of Northern Italy

This study implements an exploratory data analysis of landscape metrics and a change detection analysis of land use and population density to assess landscape dynamics (1954–2008) in two physiographic zones (plain and hilly-mountain area) of Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. The two areas are characterized by different landscape types: a mixed urban–rural landscape dominated by arable land and peri-urban settlements in the plain and a traditional agro-forest landscape in the hilly-mountain area with deciduous and conifer forests, scrublands, meadows, and crop mosaic. Urbanization and, to a lesser extent, agricultural intensification were identified as the processes underlying landscape change in the plain. Land abandonment determining natural forestation and re-forestation driven by man was identified as the process of change most representative of the hilly-mountain area. Trends in landscape metrics indicate a shift toward more fragmented and convoluted patterns in both areas. Number of patches, the interspersion and juxtaposition index, and the large patch index are the metrics discriminating the two areas in terms of landscape patterns in 1954. In 2008, mean patch size, edge density, interspersion and juxtaposition index, and mean Euclidean nearest neighbor distance were the metrics with the most different spatial patterns in the two areas. The exploratory data analysis of landscape metrics contributed to link changes over time in both landscape composition and configuration providing a comprehensive picture of landscape transformations in a wealthy European region. Evidence from this study are hoped to inform sustainable land management designed for homogeneous landscape units in similar socioeconomic contexts.

Land cover data from Landsat single-date imagery: an approach integrating pixel-based and object-based classifiers

Abstract This paper proposes an approach for generating land cover information from single-date Landsat images integrating pixel-based and object-based classifiers in two study areas: the province of Oristano and the region of Campania. The process consisted in: a) preprocessing; b) segmentation; c) classification based on radiometric properties and integration with textural properties and vegetation indices. A good overall classification accuracy was obtained at the first (Oristano: 87%, Campania: 88%) and at the second (Oristano: 74%, Campania: 82%) CORINE Land Cover level. Results highlight the potential of the method to be replicated in time and space in the perspective of a semi-automatic and cost-efficient transferability of the procedure.

Developmental Policies, Long-Term Land-Use Changes and the Way Towards Soil Degradation: Evidence from Southern Italy

ABSTRACT This paper discusses the relationship between state-driven developmental policies, considered as potential drivers of land degradation, and post-war territorial transformations in southern Italy, a disadvantaged Mediterranean region. Since the early 1950s, state-driven development policies aimed at balancing the socio-economic disparities between coastal and inland areas in southern Italy have sometimes impacted negatively on the quality of land. Three national and one European Union post-war policies have been considered in this study: (i) the Agrarian Reform promoting the realignment of land ownership and a new agricultural organization, (ii) the Cassa per il Mezzogiorno intervention stimulating economic development and reducing territorial unbalances, (iii) the measures for industrial recovery and settlement reconstruction after the 1980 earthquake in Campania and Basilicata regions and (iv) the European Common Agricultural Policy. The impact of these policies on soil resource depletion and land degradation in ecologically fragile, arid areas has been discussed using three case studies: Basilicata region, Sele river plain and Fortore river valley (both located in Campania region). The paper illustrates the multiple links between post-war economic policy and the downward environmental spiral observed in southern Italy as a contribution to the Mediterranean strategy for combating soil degradation, drought and desertification. It raises valid concerns about the negative implications of national and international political policies for land degradation in Italy which share resonance with similar developments in other countries.

Changes in foliar carbon isotope composition and seasonal stomatal conductance reveal adaptive traits in Mediterranean coppices affected by drought

We estimated water-use efficiency and potential photosynthetic assimilation of Holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) on slopes of NW and SW aspects in a replicated field test examining the effects of intensifying drought in two Mediterranean coppice forests. We used standard techniques for quantifying gas exchange and carbon isotopes in leaves and analyzed total chlorophyll, carotenoids and nitrogen in leaves collected from Mediterranean forests managed under the coppice system. We postulated that responses to drought of coppiced trees would lead to differential responses in physiological traits and that these traits could be used by foresters to adapt to predicted warming and drying in the Mediterranean area. We observed physiological responses of the coppiced trees that suggested acclimation in photosynthetic potential and water-use efficiency: (1) a significant reduction in stomatal conductance (p<0.01) was recorded as the drought increased at the SW site; (2) foliar δ13C increased as drought increased at the SW site (p<0.01); (3) variations in levels of carotenoids and foliar nitrogen, and differences in foliar morphology were recorded, and were tentatively attributed to variation in photosynthetic assimilation between sites. These findings increase knowledge of the capacity for acclimation of managed forests in the Mediterranean region of Europe.

Map of Long-Term Changes in Land Sensitivity to Degradation of Italy

The study introduces a map of the long-term changes in the level of land sensitivity to degradation for Italy, presented at a scale of 1:1,300,000. According to the Environmental Sensitive Area (ESA) approach, the national territory was divided into different classes of land sensitivity by assigning a score based on the observed changes in four themes (climate, soil, vegetation and land management) related to land degradation processes. The observed increase in the level of land sensitivity was rapid and spatially heterogeneous and reflects the decrease in land quality mainly due to human-derived landscape transformations. Maps illustrating the change in land sensitivity over a sufficiently long time period should be developed at country scale as a contribution to monitoring and dissemination of scientific results in the framework of the ‘Zero Net’ Land Degradation strategy introduced by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

Investigating syndromes of agricultural land degradation through past trajectories and future scenarios

Abstract In the last decades, due to climate changes, soil deterioration and land use/land cover (LULC) changes, land degradation (LD) has become one of the most important issues at the global, regional and local scale. In concrete terms, LD determines a reduction in the productivity of a territory and in its capacity of providing ecosystem goods and services. “Syndromes” of LD can be assessed in the past, and scenarios, conversely, can be developed for the future, as information baselines for sustainable land management strategies and interventions. LULC information is essential for identifying change trajectories and associated LD processes, and for deriving prediction rules. Methodological issues and results of studies led within the framework of the research project AGROSCENARI (Adaptation scenarios of Italian agriculture to climate change) are discussed in this paper, analysing the case of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy. Two key trajectories are investigated in detail: artificialization on the one hand, and scrubland and forestland expansion on the other. The first trajectory is associated with LD especially in terms of physical loss of farming land and soil sealing. The second trajectory is related to abandonment of agricultural land, and linked to LD processes such as soil erosion and hydrological instability, and to wildfires. The identification of such spatially explicit LD syndromes, which can also be projected on the basis of future scenarios, allows proposing and evaluating focussed measures of sustainable land management.

Amplifying (or Reversing) the Territorial Disparities in Land Vulnerability to Soil Degradation: The Case of Italy

This article analyzes the territorial disparities in the level of land vulnerability (TDLV) to soil degradation caused by five processes (soil erosion, salinization, sealing, contamination, and compaction) as well as by climate variations in Italy in 1990 and 2000. The analysis reveals, for each soil degradation process, a typical spatial distribution across Italy. Three processes (soil salinization, compaction, and sealing) contribute significantly to the increase in land vulnerability, which is mainly concentrated in risky areas. The observed disparities highlight a growing environmental divide between northern Italy (an economically developed region, not at risk of desertification) and southern Italy and the two main islands (dry, disadvantaged regions at risk of desertification). The knowledge of such a territorial divide and of the underlying soil degradation processes is regarded as important for environmental policies at the country and regional scales aimed at sustaining the economic and socioenvironmental cohesion between areas that are either vulnerable or nonvulnerable to soil degradation. The proposed approach should be seen as part of a decision-making tool informing policies and supporting the design of management solutions, hopefully reversing disparities in land vulnerability to soil degradation.

Climate Aridity under Changing Conditions and Implications for the Agricultural Sector: Italy as a Case Study

A comprehensive diachronic analysis (1951–2010) of precipitation and temperature regimes has been carried out at the national and regional scale in Italy to investigate the impact of climate aridity on the agricultural system. Trends in climate aridity have been also analysed using UNEP aridity index which is the ratio between rainfall and potential evapotranspiration on a yearly basis. During the examined time period, and particularly in the most recent years, a gradual reduction in rainfall and growing temperatures have been observed which have further widened the gap between precipitation amounts and water demand in agriculture.

Planning for sustainable agro-forest systems: protected areas and soil degradation hotspots in Italy (1990–2010)

Abstract Investigating spatio-temporal trends in soil vulnerability to degradation based on the diachronic analysis of selected biophysical and socioeconomic drivers is a key issue for the identification of prone areas. The working hypothesis of the present study is that a given territorial system may undergo different (and sometimes contrasting) patterns of soil vulnerability (improvement, worsening or stability) in the long term, thus creating (or amplifying) spatial heterogeneity in land resource distribution. Areas classified as “critical” are regarded as soil vulnerability hotspots that require dedicated mitigation policies. The correct identification of “critical” areas to soil degradation is particularly important for the natural areas and, more generally, for the agro-forest systems preserved under various land protection regimes. Based on these premises, the objectives of this study are (i) to assess the spatial distribution of soil vulnerability in Italy over a long enough time interval (1990–2010), (ii) to provide an operational tool to identify soil degradation hotspots according to the observed vulnerability trend and, finally, (iii) to analyze hotspot spatial distribution in relation with natural protected areas and the Natura2000 network. The results of this study provide a useful tool for environmental monitoring and are discussed in the light of sustainable agro-forest management and preservation of natural areas.