An Ecological Approach for Recovery Residual Area of the Human Productive Activity: A Brief Study

Abstract

The growth of urban populations causes cities, and their suburbs, to spread, expand, and replace natural lands by agricultural. Urbanization brings land-use change, altering the relationship between human societies and environmental resources. Therefore, the management of natural resources connected to urban expansion has become one of the most important challenges in attaining sustainable landscape. Quarrying is a crucial component of local socio- economic development providing key materials for infrastructures and buildings. However, like many other human activities, quarrying causes a significant impact on the environment. In Mediterranean countries, quarrying activities exert increasing pressures on limited soil and water resources, thus accelerating erosion processes and subsequent destruction of existing arable lands. Quarrying operations can profoundly alter pre-existing ecosystems and perturb hydro- geological and hydrological regimes. They can profoundly modify the substratum, change landscape patterns and integrity, destroy natural habitats and interrupt their natural succession, as well as alter genetic resources. The resulting situation is seriously compromised by anthropic regeneration processes on degraded sites after the end of quarrying activities, which are not focused on potential natural vegetation which these sites could develop, considering the surrounding ecosystems. The aim of the study is to present an ecological  approach to transform the residual area of industrial production into a new ecological patch of the landscape that can support the ecological network. This project aims to integrate environmental and landscape aspects with the economic and social ones in order to guarantee the sustainability of the proposed intervention. The new project modifies the one presented at the start of the quarrying activity which planned planting of trees directly on the bottom of the quarry,. The new project foresees the partial filling of the quarry using waste materials according to the environmental legislation. This allows to protect the groundwater better and to create a microclimate more suited to the development of natural vegetation. The quarry filling activity represents an economic activity for the company and therefore can guarantee the development of jobs for at least 5 years. In addition, the proposed project aims to reconstitute the pre-existing vegetation, consistently with the surrounding ecosystem. This will allow the development of the priority habitat *6220: Pseudo-steppe with grasses and annuals of the Thero-Brachypodietea (Directive 92/43/CEE), producing a landscape of recognized ecological value, not detached from the surrounding landscape. In this way, the closed quarry can act as a stepping-stone and play a significant role in regulating green infrastructure in landscapes. The configuration of the vegetation planed might as well be compatible with the presence of low-density PV panels combining the energy police with Biodiversity Strategy 2030.