Forest Area Changes in Cinque Terre National Park in the Last 80 Years. Consequences on Landslides and Forest Fire Risks

Abstract

Cinque Terre, one of the most important Italian cultural landscapes, has not been spared from depopulation and agricultural abandonment processes, that involved many rural areas in Europe, as a consequence of socio-economic transformations that occurred after WWII. Depopulation of rural areas, especially in mountains or in terraced areas, caused significant environmental consequences, such as the decrease of biodiversity, the landscape homogenization, the increase of hydrogeological and forest fires risks. Cinque Terre National Park (5TNP) was established in 1999, and, differently from other Italian National Parks, not just for protecting natural habitats, but mainly to preserve, restore and valorize the historical terraced landscape. Moreover, the area is a UNESCO cultural landscape site and it is partly protected by three Sites of Community Importance. The research intended to investigate the transformations that have affected forested areas inside the 5TNP in the period 1936–2018, also highlighting the connections with hydrogeological and forest fires risks, as a support for the Park planning strategies and the conservation of the UNESCO site. Results highlighted that 37% of the current forests are the consequence of dry stones terraces abandonment that occurred in the twentieth century, with negative effects on the stability of steep slopes, hydrogeological risk, forest fires and on the conservation of a unique cultural landscape. This confirms the current national trend showing no deforestation occurring, but rather a continuous increase of forests on abandoned land. While 5TNP policies and actions are effectively aimed at pursuing an equilibrium between cultivated areas and forests, the Sites of Community Importance located inside the Park mainly focuses on the conservation of “natural habitats”, even if the current vegetation is also the result of secondary successions on former cultivated land. The research highlighted the need to valorize “cultural values” in forest planning as well as the importance of forest history for an accurate planning of forest resources in protected areas.

Forest-Cover Changes in European Natura 2000 Sites in the Period 2012–2018

“…In addition, spontaneous forest regrowth is generally perceived as a worsening of the local aesthetic dimension, especially by local inhabitants and farmers, while the population living in the cities tend to perceive it as an increase of "wilderness" and of "nature" [30][31][32][33]. Furthermore, forests grown on abandoned pastures and agricultural areas are often of lower economic value [34,35]; therefore, they are left unmanaged, making them more subject to natural hazards, especially in Mediterranean areas where biomass accumulation significantly increases the risk of forest fires [36][37][38][39].…”

GIScience and Historical Cartography for Evaluating Land Use Changes and Resulting Effects on Carbon Balance

“…It is necessary therefore to pursue a multidisciplinary approach that takes into account geographical, environmental and landscape factors as variables that interact with each other and with social and economic aspects [3]. In this contest, a detailed analysis of the changes carried out and the global monitoring of all ecosystems is necessary in order to propose appropriate environmental protection policies [4] aimed at reusing resources in the framework of a circular economy approach [5].…”

Historical GIS as a Tool for Monitoring, Preserving and Planning Forest Landscape: A Case Study in a Mediterranean Region

“…Instead, towards inland areas, where hilly and mountainous areas become more prevalent [6,7], the dynamics of transformation are related to changes in land use, a process that has always characterized territories and landscapes, but in recent decades is occurring at accelerating rates and leading to upsets in the ecosystem balance of habitats and soil biogeochemical cycles [8]. Moreover, this is also compromising the landscapes that are historically and culturally linked to traditional agricultural activities that have designed Land 2021, 10, 851 2 of 20 and shaped the territory, creating patterns of high ecological interest and resilience to climate change recognized worldwide (UNESCO) [9][10][11].…”