A2. Novel perspectives on traditional agricultural features, structures and practices promoting landscape sustainability

Cristina Quintas Soriano (University of Almeria), cristina.quintas@ual.es

María García-Martín (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)

Mario Torralba (Universität Kassel)

Tobias Plieninger (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)

Summary

This session will centre on local agricultural practices and structures that, despite their limited extension, have disproportionate importance in the promotion of landscape sustainability. Typically, these features and structures are associated with multifunctional agricultural landscapes and are supported by rich local-ecological knowledge. The context-specific nature of these agricultural features and practices makes them difficult for integration in planning policies, while the scholar literature is rather fragmented. As such, this session will welcome innovative approaches for mapping, valuing or assessing the importance of these practices and structures by applying biophysical, socio-cultural or inter- and transdisciplinary approaches.

Description

Over long periods of time, the tight interactions between society and their surrounding agricultural landscapes have often resulted in a series of locally adapted structures and practices, which contributed to support local livelihoods in a sustainable way. Some examples of these landscape structures would be agricultural terraces, dry-stone walls, hedgerows, and irrigation channels. Some examples of practices would be tree haymaking and transhumance.

Typically, these landscape features are associated with multifunctional agricultural landscapes and are supported by rich local ecological knowledge. Despite their limited extension, they often have an important role in the conservation of biodiversity and for the promotion of environmental and socio-cultural values.

These practices and structures are particularly vulnerable to current drivers of change. Their disappearance, often associated with processes of land use abandonment or intensification, is accompanied with hard-to-reverse erosion of the values associated with these agricultural landscapes. The context-specific nature of these landscape features makes them difficult for integration in landscape planning policies, while their presence in scholar literature is rather fragmented. This poses serious challenges for their management and preservation. In this session, we will welcome contributions focused on mapping, evaluating and valuing these landscape structures and practices. Our interest ranges from place-based studies focused on a specific landscape to large-scale mapping assessments applying biophysical or socio-cultural approaches.

We will welcome studies that:

• Evaluate practices and/or structures that contribute to landscape sustainability focused on agroecosystems
• Develop biophysical or socio-cultural approaches to value practices or structures
• Use place-based case studies or large-scale assessments

The aim of the session is to connect researchers working on similar topics but different landscapes; to promote the exchange of methods and approaches, and to identify ideas and strategies to promote these landscape structures and practices.

Impact

We expect to create a meeting point for researchers working on similar topics but different social-ecological contexts. We aim that the discussions triggered during the session potentially evolve into long -lasting scientific exchange relationships, cross-comparison scientific publications and joint research proposals.