Identification and mapping the high nature value farmland by the comparison of a combined and species approaches in Tuscany, Italy

Abstract

Low-intensity farming systems play a crucial role in nature conservation by preserving 50% of habitats, flora and fauna occurring in Europe. For this reason the identification, classification and mapping of high nature value farmlands (HNVfs) is becoming an overriding concern. In this study, two different approaches, namely combined approach and species-based approach, were used to spatially identify HNVfs (type 1, 2 and 3) across Tuscany region (Italy). The first approach calculated different indicators (extensive practices indicator, crop diversity indicator, landscape element indicator) at 1×1 km grid cell spatial resolution using pre-existent spatial datasets integrated within a global information system environment. Whilst, the speciesbased approach relied on a pre-existent regional naturalistic inventory. All indicators and the resulting HNVfs derived from the two approaches were aggregated at municipality level. Despite some difference, the two adopted approaches intercepted spatially the same HNVfs areas, accounting for 35% of the total utilised agricultural area of the region. Just 16% of HNVfs resulted located inside protected areas, thus under current conservation and protection management actions. Finally, HNVfs of the Tuscany region were spatially aggregated in four relevant agro-ecosystems by taking into consideration the cropping systems and the landscape elements' characteristics peculiar in the region. IntroductionApproximately 45% of the European Union territory consists of agricultural landscapes (Henle et al., 2008), which encompass a set of combination of factors such as soils and orographic conditions, water availability and different intensity levels of farming and farm activities. Such combinations are responsible for the establishment and the existence of an array of ecological conditions and biodiversity (Pain and Pienkowski, 1997).Over the centuries, the rapid and profound evolution of agriculture has reduced the naturalness of the Europe's primordial environment. Nevertheless, the emergence of both semi-natural habitats and a new diversity of flora and fauna depend upon the presence of farming landscapes (Kristensen, 2003;Beaufoy and Cooper, 2009), whose mosaiclike distribution in the territory provides a high variety of habitats that in turn guarantees a great biodiversity . Kristensen (2003) argues nearly all our cultural landscapes arose from agricultural practices and 50 % of all species in Europe depend on agricultural habitats.Since the early 90s, the concept of high nature value farming (HNVfs) has been framed to meet the growing recognition that in Europe the several habitats and species related to farming systems preserve high nature conservation value, which can be protected only by farmers and their farming practices . Various authors relate to the emergence of the HNV to farming systems low intensity, namely systems with low use of agricultural external inputs and thus low yielding (Baldock et al., 1993;Beaufoy et al., 1994). Andersen and colleagues (2003) argue t...

New Technique for Monitoring High Nature Value Farmland (HNVF) in Basilicata

“…According to the literature [31][32][33][34][35], the accepted minimum threshold to qualify an area as HNV farmland should oscillate between the 30th and the 15th percentile of the best municipality scores. The methodological framework was designed to identify municipalities whose utilized agriculture area (UAA) is mostly HNV.…”