For millennia, mankind has shaped landscapes, particularly through agriculture. In Europe, the age-old interaction between humans and ecosystems strongly influenced the cultural heritage. Yet European farmland is now being abandoned, especially in remote areas. The loss of the traditional agricultural landscapes and its consequences for biodiversity and ecosystem services is generating concerns in both the scientific community and the public. Here we ask to what extent farmland abandonment can be considered as an opportunity for rewilding ecosystems. We analyze the perceptions of traditional agriculture in Europe and their influence in land management policies. We argue that, contrary to the common perception, traditional agriculture practices were not environmentally friendly and that the standards of living of rural populations were low. We suggest that current policies to maintain extensive farming landscapes underestimate the human labor needed to sustain these landscapes and the recent and future dynamics of the socio-economic drivers behind abandonment. We examine the potential benefits for ecosystems and people from rewilding. We identify species that could benefit from land abandonment and forest regeneration and the ecosystem services that could be provided such as carbon sequestration and recreation. Finally, we discuss the challenges associated with rewilding, including the need to maintain open areas, the fire risks, and the conflicts between people and wildlife. Despite these challenges, we argue that rewilding should be recognized by policy-makers as one of the possible land management options in Europe, particularly on marginal areas.

/pdf/rewilding-abandoned-landscapes-in-europe-1r0wlw8wap.pdf

Rewilding Abandoned Landscapes in Europe

Agricultural activities and their complex effects on nature conservation, and the services that ecosystems deliver to humans are controversial. We present an overview of land abandonment, its driving forces and its consequences for landscape, biodiversity and humans. A descriptive metaanalysis of independently published studies highlighted the fact that the abandonment of agricultural land is a phenomenon mostly driven by socio-economic factors such as immigration into areas where new economic opportunities are offered to rural people. Ecological drivers such as elevation and land mismanagement leading to soil erosion are of secondary importance. We identified the major problems related to abandonment of agricultural land and quantified their relative importance. In order of decreasing importance, they were biodiversity loss, increase of fire frequency and intensity, soil erosion and desertification, loss of cultural and/or aesthetic values, reduction of landscape diversity and reduction of water provision. The impacts of these problems were not equally relevant in all regions of the world. The abandonment of agricultural land may also benefit humans. The benefits include passive revegetation and active reforestation, water regulation, soil recovery, nutrient cycling and increased biodiversity and wilderness. In a world that is becoming less natural and more intensively exploited by humans, we suggest that (1) farmland must be viewed in a context of multi-functionality to take advantage of ecosystem goods and services, (2) at the global scale, the abandonment of agricultural land is mostly positive for humans and (3) there is a need for the implementation of policies based on the payments for environmental services that encourage human societies to reconcile agricultural use, nature conservation and ecological restoration.

/pdf/abandonment-of-agricultural-land-an-overview-of-drivers-and-3ajrzs3n4o.pdf

Abandonment of agricultural land: an overview of drivers and consequences

Land-use/land-cover change is the most important factor in causing biodiversity loss. The Mediterranean region has been affected by antropic disturbance for thousands of years, and is, nowadays, one of the most significantly altered hotspots in the world. However, in the last years a significant increase in forest cover has been measured. These new patterns are independent from planned conservation strategies and appear to have a substantial impact on landscapes and biodiversity. We used three land-use/land-cover maps (from 1960 to 2000) covering the Italian peninsula to analyze the pattern of land-use/land-cover change. We measured an increase in forests, especially in mountains, an increase in artificial areas, especially in coastal zones, and a decrease in pastures. Intensively cultivated areas showed a limited decrease while extensively cultivated ones showed a marked decrease. In the same period mammal and bird species followed a similar pattern, with forest birds, ungulates and carnivores increasing, and typically Mediterranean species decreasing. We suggest that our results may provide important information, which could be useful for conservation planning in the entire Mediterranean hotspot. We suggest that an increasing conservation effort should be made to protect the Mediterranean-type forests and scrublands, as well as traditional agricultural practices. Moreover, future conservation efforts should consider the broad socio-political and ecological processes that are most likely to occur across the whole hotspot, especially along coastal areas, and the network of protected areas should be functionally integrated in a conservation strategy that includes the human-dominated landscape.

Changes in land-use/land-cover patterns in Italy and their implications for biodiversity conservation

From land cover change to land function dynamics: a major challenge to improve land characterization

https://www.geographie.hu-berlin.de/en/professorships/biogeography/publications_pdf/estel_mapping_farmland-abandonment.pdf

Mapping farmland abandonment and recultivation across Europe using MODIS NDVI time series.

Traditional land-use and nature conservation in European rural landscapes

https://www.kora.ch/malme/05_library/5_1_publications/H/Hoechtl_et_al_2005_Wilderness_what_it_means_when_it_becomes_a_reality.pdf

"Wilderness": what it means when it becomes a reality - a case study from the southwestern Alps.

English The history of viticulture has been widely studied in Europe. Knowledge of the landscape history of the viticulture once widely practised on terraced slopes is lacking, however. This paper contains an outline of the history of such vineyards. The forces driving the terracing of steep slopes are discussed, as are the advantages of building terraces and of using dry stone walls as retaining structures. The building fabric of historic terraced vineyards located in south-western Germany and in the Swiss canton of Valais was analysed employing a historical landscape analysis. The construction and function of the different elements of the vineyards, and their interactions, were a particular focus. Also presented are insights into how the building fabric may provide indications as to the owners and the construction history of such winegrowing areas. Finally, strategies for the preservation of these terraced vineyards, which are of great value from both a nature and a heritage conservation perspe...

Historic terraced vineyards: impressive witnesses of vernacular architecture

Pure theory or useful tool?: Experiences with transdisciplinarity in the Piedmont Alps

The article presents current approaches to rural landscape management in Europe in light of the concepts, methods and the findings of seven research projects undertaken by the Institute of Landscape Management of the Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg (Germany). These projects are either being or were conducted in five European countries (Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Switzerland). The five main aims of landscape management comprise the sustainable production and supply of foods and raw materials by agriculture and forestry, the provision of recreational space, the conservation of ecological and cultural resources, and the restoration and reclamation of impaired landscapes or landscape compartments. In certain situations it may be possible that landscapes are not managed at all. Unhindered landscape development is an option in areas already largely abandoned. As landscapes are a public good, upon which many people stake claims, the cessation of any active landscape tending or the preparation and...

Franz Höchtl

Papers

Traditional land-use and nature conservation in European rural landscapes

"Wilderness": what it means when it becomes a reality - a case study from the southwestern Alps.

Historic terraced vineyards: impressive witnesses of vernacular architecture

Pure theory or useful tool?: Experiences with transdisciplinarity in the Piedmont Alps

Building bridges, crossing borders: Integrative approaches to rural landscape management in Europe