Abstract
The Apulian Region (Italy) is a socio-ecological system shaped by the millennial co-evolution between human actions and ecological processes. It is characterized by monumental olive groves protected from Regional Law 14/2007 for the cultural value of the landscape, currently threatened by the spread of a devastating phytopathogen, the bacteria Xylella fastidiosa. The aim of this paper is to apply landscape resilience analysis focusing on ecosystem services to understand the potential effects and trade-offs of regeneration policies in a peri-urban area characterized by monumental olive groves land cover. The study involved land-cover and land-use analysis, supported by a survey on the inhabitants and an ecosystem services analysis. The results showed a mismatch between the agroecosystem and the social and economic use linked to leisure or hospitality. The study area was defined as a peri-urban landscape characterized by tourist use. From the interviews of the users, the cultural heritage of olive groves seems linked to the presence of olive trees like a status quo of the landscape and olive oil productions. The culture aspect could thus be preserved by changing the type of olive trees. In addition, the analysis showed that the microclimate could be preserved and enhanced in terms of air temperature and thermal comfort, by replacing the olive trees with varieties resistant to Xylella, such as cv. Leccino. Therefore, regeneration policies that promote replacing dead olive groves with new olive trees could be efficient to stimulate social components of the landscape and improve the resilience of ecosystem services in peri-urban areas in the interest of the cultural heritage of the users and benefits that they provide. An ecosystem services analysis at a local scale could be a strategy for an integrated regenerate approach between land-use and land-cover with social, ecological, and economic evolutions vision orientated to a sustainable and desirable future.
Highlights
Many European landscapes express the millennial interactions between natural processes and anthropic activities that transform ecosystems in order to adapt them to human needs [1,2,3]
The regeneration policy that sustains the conversion of olive groves destroyed by
The landowners can be considered the sellers of ecosystem services that can be compensated for replacing the olive trees destroyed, whereas the regional institutions should be considered as buyers that represent the interest of the local societies
Summary
Many European landscapes express the millennial interactions between natural processes and anthropic activities that transform ecosystems in order to adapt them to human needs [1,2,3]. Sustainability 2021, 13, 8778 result of interaction between nature and human needs is at the basis of the concept of the cultural landscape [10,11,12]. This is the case of the monumental olive groves in Apulia (Italy) regulated by the Regional Law 14/2007 for the cultural value of the landscape
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