Land Transformations in Irpinia (Southern Italy): A Tale on the Socio-Economic Dynamics Acting in a Marginal Area of the Mediterranean Europe

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Marginal areas in economically advanced countries are a critical issue that European and national policies have been addressing for some time. These areas are affected by depopulation, infrastructural gaps and labor systems that do not reach the corresponding national levels and where often agriculture still plays a critical role. In Italy, despite the fact that the National Strategy for Inner Areas (SNAI) has been active for about a decade with the aim of increasing the territorial cohesion of these fragile areas, rather limited results have been achieved in terms of halting economic marginalization and demographic decline. In this specific context, our work is aimed at analyzing land use changes, the loss of ecosystem services and demographic trends in a Mediterranean region (Irpinia—Southern Italy) on district and municipal scales in the last 30 years (1990–2018) to capture current, subtle socio-economic dynamics. The analysis carried out has indicated a substantial increase in urban areas due to the development of new industrial areas and discontinuous urban fabric (urban sprawl) at the expense of natural areas (mainly meadows and shrublands). The agricultural areas have remained substantially unchanged in terms of extension, with a slight increase in heterogeneous agricultural areas and an expansion of high-value crops (vineyards), that are the most suitable for multifunctional agriculture activities (experiential and rural tourism). The analysis of the demographic trend has highlighted a widespread phenomenon of depopulation, with the exception of those municipalities who economically orbit around the provincial capital of Avellino. The municipalities in depopulation are mostly located in the inner areas characterized by a more rugged morphology and infrastructural gaps. Unexpectedly, most of municipalities show a significant anticorrelation among the population and agricultural areas which is an indicator of social and economic phenomena as complex as they are underestimated. As a final step, this analysis highlights also a loss of carbon storage mainly attributable to the soil sealing of large areas. This study can help to comprehensively understand the conditions of marginal areas in Mediterranean Europe over recent decades in the light of the main socio-economic dynamics to better direct efforts towards the containment of the human capital hemorrhage, consisting of persistently negative natural and migratory rates, and the sustainable empowerment of these geo-economic peripheries.