Progress in indicators to assess agricultural landscape valuation: how and what is measured at different levels of governance

Abstract

Abstract:Landscape is defined by the European Landscape Convention as "an area perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors".Many efforts have been devoted in addressing the core concepts on which this definition roots: perception and interaction of men and nature, but when coming to large (continental) scale assessments, the latter prevail on the former. This paper aims at presenting a framework for a measurable landscape awareness indicator as a key link to the public demand for a specific type of landscape: the agricultural landscape. This is a necessary effort to complement more physically based assessments, which include as well the impact of human activities on landscapes.The analysis is carried out at different levels of governance: EU and regional, using an example from the Alentejo region in Portugal and EU wide databases, and addresses conceptual and practical questions: what type of societal landscape awareness can be monitored and by whom (e.g., individuals, specific social groups, society as a whole); what are the landscape dimensions that should be assessed; what are the limitations imposed by data-related constraints. By applying the methodology to build composite indicators to map landscape societal awareness, the paper shows the regional and local meaning of indicator approaches developed at European level, presents developments for downscaling to regional level, while introducing the social component to support sound policy development for European rural landscapes.

Customer Satisfaction with Farmhouse Facilities and Its Implications for the Promotion of Agritourism Resources in Italian Municipalities

“…For this reason, it is very important to promote and to communicate to visitors the undeniable value of this natural heritage. Indeed, the findings of the analysis, in line with previous studies [50][51][52][53][54], have highlighted that the key pull factors-most appreciated by visitors who had spent a period of their vacation in farmhouses present in almost of all the "homogenous" agritourism systems (clusters) identified, with the exception of Cluster 6-were the characteristics of the environment and landscape in the surrounding area.…”

“…Such accommodation may be farmhouses, cottages, castles, masserie (large stone farmhouses) and so on [44]. Furthermore, landscape attributes appear to play a more significant role in agritourism consumer preferences for overnight destinations [50][51][52][53][54]. However, the success of FFEFs in Tuscany is mainly due to the beautiful landscape, the high-quality food products and the many historical centres spread out in the neighbouring countryside (e.g., San Gimignano, Volterra, Cortona in Tuscany) or nearby (Florence, Pisa, Lucca).…”

Modeling of sod-podzolic soil fertility indicators optimization in the course of a field experiment

“…The soil environment parameters are crucial for the effective implementation of agricultural technologies [1,21,22]. Among a large number of indicators evaluating certain parameters of soil fertility from the point of view of fertility reproduction, the most important are the relatively stable characteristics that determine the agronomic value of soils [9,10,13]. Long-term research carried out in field experiments, as well as taking into account crop yields and soil properties in production seeding, allowed establishing the most favorable values of soil properties for obtaining high yields (table 1).…”

“…In Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries, studies are carried out on model changes in soil complex and organic matter after the introduction of different farming systems and fertilizers [5][6][7][8][9]. The reforms carried out in the 1990-s led to radical changes in the economy of Russia, including market relations formed in agriculture.…”

Multifuncionalidad territorial y turismo. Implicaciones socioculturales, económicas y ambientales en destinos rurales emergentes. Un caso de estudio en Comala, Colima

“…De igual forma revisan cómo esta nueva actividad puede mejorar los niveles de competitividad territorial de estos ámbitos rurales. Paracchini et al (2016) plantean un modelo para medir indicadores de la multifuncionalidad de la agricultura en el contexto europeo, a través de tres componentes: el paisaje protegido, el turismo como un producto consumido in situ y productos agrícolas consumidos ex situ, específicamente aquellos identificados como denominación de origen protegida (PDO, por sus siglas en inglés).…”