Socioeconomic Dimensions of Changes in the Agricultural Landscape of the Mediterranean Basin: A Case Study of the Abandonment of Cultivation Terraces on Nisyros Island, Greece

Abstract

Agricultural landscapes illustrate the impact of human actions on physical settings, and differential human pressures cause these landscapes to change with time. Our study explored changes in the terraced landscapes of Nisyros Island, Greece, focusing on the socioeconomic aspects during two time periods using field data, cadastral research, local documents, and published literature, as well as surveys of the islanders. Population increases during the late 19th to early 20th centuries marked a significant escalation of terrace and dry stone wall construction, which facilitated cultivation on 58.4% of the island. By the mid-20th century, the economic collapse of agricultural activities and consequent emigration caused the abandonment of cultivated land and traditional management practices, dramatically reducing farm and field numbers. Terrace abandonment continued in recent decades, with increased livestock grazing becoming the main land management tool; as a result, both farm and pasture sizes increased. Neglect and changing land use has led to deterioration and destruction of many terraces on the island. We discuss the socioeconomic and political backgrounds responsible for the land-use change before World War II (annexation of Nisyros Island by the Ottoman Empire, Italy, and Greece; overseas migration opportunities; and world transportation changes) and after the war (social changes in peasant societies; worldwide changes in agricultural production practices). The adverse landscape changes documented for Nisyros Island appear to be inevitable for modern Mediterranean rural societies, including those on other islands in this region. The island's unique terraced landscapes may qualify Nisyros to become an archive or repository of old agricultural management techniques to be used by future generations and a living resource for sustainable management.

Landscape Change in Mediterranean Farmlands: Impacts of Land Abandonment on Cultivation Terraces in Portofino (Italy) and Lesvos (Greece)

“…1: Location of the study areas and location of the 10 biodiversity hotspots in the Mediterranean, based on plant endemism and richness (from Médail&Quézel, 1999) An important characteristic of many Mediterranean landscapes are the terraces. Cultivation terraces are artificial, level surfaces used for cultivation on sloping terrain, in the Mediterranean usually supported by a stone wall (Petanidou et al 2008) and sustaining a variety of different land uses, including perennial crops and arable crops. Terraces support a number of different ecosystem services, including soil erosion prevention, less surface water runoff, increase of soil depth and moisture, and they also often characterise the landscape.…”

Agricultural land abandonment in Mediterranean environment provides ecosystem services via soil carbon sequestration

“…Agricultural land abandonment was the most important change in Mediterranean ecosystems over the last centuries and probably no other change in land use has been more important since the expansion of agriculture from the eastern to the western Mediterranean ten millennia ago (Petanidou et al, 2008;Rühl et al, 2005). Abandonment of agricultural land leads to several consequences for ecosystem functions and ecosystem service benefits (Cammeraat et al, 2010;Lasanta et al, 2015a;Parras-Alcántara et al, 2016;Rey Benayas et al, 2007).…”

Developing a strategy for the protection of traditional agricultural landscapes based on a complex landscape-ecological evaluation (the case of a mountain landscape in Slovakia)

“…Case studies involving multidisciplinary investigation of TALs, landscape history, forces driving the land-shaping system and land management methods have been analyzed, together with landscape preservation strategies. These are of great value from both nature and heritage conservation perspectives (Kizos et al, 2010;Petanidou et al, 2008;Cullotta and Barbera, 2011;Petit et al, 2012, and others). Interest in maintaining the integrity of traditional landscapes also emerged from the European Landscape Convention (ELC, 2000), following realistic threats of the loss of traditional landscapes.…”