New curricula and teaching programmes on sustainable agriculture: the “SAGRI” Project.

In the European Union almost 50% of the territory is covered by farmland, which means that agriculture plays a key role in land management, having also a huge responsibility in the preservation of natural resources. In order to practice a sustainable agriculture, farmers and other agricultural operators must adopt correct and environmentally-friendly practices, using appropriate technology and complying with relevant regulations. Recent developments in science and technology are however still unfortunately unutilized in many situations even since - as a recent survey conducted for the European Commission revealed - only 17% of farmers has finished a basic or full training specifically focused on agriculture-related disciplines. In the present paper, the main results achieved so far by the European Project: “Skills Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture - SAGRI” are presented. SAGRI is a project financed by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Commission aimed to give a decisive answer to the request of better trained farmers, agricultural workers and extension staff, thanks to structuring specific courses aimed to increase their knowledge, competence and skills in the field of agro-environmental technology for sustainable agriculture. Through the institution of suitable concerted and standardized study curricula and relevant teaching programmes, the SAGRI Project is aimed to increase the technological level for agricultural operators, then promoting their employment as well

A GIS-based approach to monitor and assess historical forest landscape evolution

In order to assess landscape dynamics, as well as the effectiveness of relevant management strategies, it is necessary to develop monitoring systems based on qualitative and quantitative tools for its conservation, valorisation and restoration. This approach is particularly important for historical rural landscapes having a recognized ecological and cultural value. To do this, it is first necessary to apply a chronological methodology since, by definition, landscapes result from an interaction of natural and anthropogenic factors over time. Thanks to the constant evolution of Geographic Information Systems and of different geodata available, the monitoring of historical landscapes is increasingly effective and inclusive. Using as a case study an historical forest landscape recognized at Italian level for its high value (Lucanian Apennines’s beech forest - Basilicata Region), a diachronic analysis was applied to evaluate its multi-temporal evolution. Starting from historical cartographies up to Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, a GIS-based approach was implemented to evaluate the spatial variations of forest cover in this landscape. The techniques applied have allowed to reconstruct the original structure of the beech forests, useful for a possible restoration in some areas, but also to monitor the processes in place by using vegetation indices derived from remote sensing

Integrating remote-sensed and historical geodata to assess interactions between rural buildings and agroforestry land

The rural built heritage constitutes a unique example, due to architectural and technical issues, which plays a central role in the formation of rural landscape. In this research, interactions between rural buildings and the surrounding land have been examined. Two case studies exemplifying some of typical dynamics of some internal mountain areas of Mediterranean region have been considered. These areas are located in Basilicata Region (Southern Italy) and suffer from land and rural buildings heritage abandonment, as well as from the concurrent disappearance of agroforestry systems with high ecological value. A multi-chronological geo-database incorporating different land cover datasets over a period of 62 years (1955–1988–2008–2017) has been implemented into a GIS to assess relationships between some rural buildings and the surrounding land have been then assessed. This has been achieved by integrating different types of remote-sensed geodata: historical aerial photos, digital orthophotos and satellite images. The analyses carried out have shown that the intensity of land abandonment can also be related to the type of rural building and prevalent agricultural activity. Moreover, thanks to this methodology, it has been possible to produce several spatial information useful to support public decisionmakers at different level

Investigating the Time Evolution of a Rural Landscape: How Historical Maps May Provide Environmental Information When Processed Using a GIS.

A rural landscape is the result of the interaction among natural elements and human activities which takes place in time and space. It represents a non-renewable resource that can provide incomparable information on the general state of the environment. The rapid transformations that are taking place in the last century push towards the implementation of monitoring actions able to take into account the various components of the land use, including their concurrent time evolution as well. We performed an analysis of temporal transformations of a rural landscape using an open-source GIS approach that allowed for mainstreaming of the main features of this rural landscape, i.e. land use patterns, naturalness dynamics, landscape diversity and visual quality. These four parameters have been selected since they represent those which most affect the processes at the base of the environmental planning and management of a rural landscape. The survey has been carried out over a period of 138 years, using historical maps, interpretation of aerial photos and implementing digital cartography, that have been retrieved with reference to a study area located in the Basilicata Region (southern Italy), which is considered a territory with an high rural – i.e., both natural and agricultural - landscape value. This methodology has allowed for the examination of the landscape from different points of view, experimenting the performance of a multi-temporal and inter-disciplinary analysis. The main results show – since the landscape has been completely transformed by man in terms of land use – that the areas covered in the past by forest have been transformed into agricultural areas, as opposed to some areas where re-naturalisation processes have taken place. Starting from this first analysis, the implemented methodology, based on a multidisciplinary approach, has enabled to identify the transformations which have greatly influenced the time evolution of the study area. The resulted assessment of land use patterns, landscape diversity, naturalness dynamics and visual quality of this study area, thus enables suitable strategies for the restoration of the local rural ecosystems

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

In order to assess the dynamics of forests and the effectiveness of their management strategies, it is necessary to develop monitoring systems based on qualitative and quantitative tools for their conservation, valorization and restoration. This approach is particularly important for areas that have undergone intense anthropogenic transformations in the last century. In order to do this, it is first necessary to apply a chronological methodology based on historical GIS that allows the integration of different types of geodata. As a result of constantly evolving spatial analysis tools, the monitoring of landscape forest evolution is increasingly more effective and complete. Using as a case study a region representative of common processes of other Mediterranean areas (Southern Italy–Basilicata region), a diachronic analysis of 156 years was applied to evaluate the forest landscape dynamics. Starting from historical cartographies to remotely sensed data available online, a GIS-based approach was implemented to evaluate the spatial and statistical variations of the forest landscape. In this way, it was possible to assess how much, where and how the forest landscape has changed in order to provide a methodology to support more detailed and sectoral studies

The role of green areas in the City of Matera (Southern Italy) as a recreational and tourist potential for its territory

The growth of population living in city centers, brings with it the need to make people's lives healthier, intervening in urban and peri-urban areas to increase the presence of green spaces, able to control air pollution levels, maintain biodiversity and improve the city's microclimate. The evaporation produced by plants also mitigate the heat peaks of the summer season, while the shading of buildings allows significant savings on energy for air conditioning. The Italian city with the highest amount of green per capita is Matera. This city has indeed around 59 million square meters of historical green areas: parks, villas and gardens with an historical value. In the present paper, it is presented the Green Plan for the Municipality of Matera, designed and implemented as an essential strategic tool to know, enhance, protect and design the green of the city as a system, taking into account the identity of places. The Census of the area, with the support of a GIS tool, covers the entire public green heritage: location of green areas, recognition of botanical species present, detection of the characteristics of the public tree, shrub heritage and the description of the characteristics and forms of use of different areas

The implementation of GIS tools for planning the development of rural tourism along the network of old sheep-tracks.

Rural tourism is progressively growing in several areas of the World, thanks to its characteristics to noticeably combine naturalistic, cultural and eno-gastronomic opportunities. In this framework, many old agricultural buildings have been successfully converted into new accommodations, typical restaurants or educational farms. Tourism activities related to these rural structures are currently expanding, so incentivizing the arrival of more tourists and valorizing the rural land. One of the elements of the rural landscape that could be improved to further spreading, is the network of old sheep-tracks. Indeed, these paths can be exploited for cultural and nature hiking activities since, in addition to often crossing rural areas, they are perfect places to immerse the tourist in the nature and surrounding landscape. The present study considers the Basilicata Region (Southern Italy) and its important network of old sheep-tracks, which have been included into a GIS database, specifically implemented to exploit these paths for touristic purposes. Thanks to this GIS tool - that allowed the creation of a complex georeferenced database, by entering all data related to elements of tourist and cultural interest - it has been therefore possible to plan suitable tourist routes, even aimed at the sustainable valorization of the rural landscape