Planning for sustainable agro-forest systems: protected areas and soil degradation hotspots in Italy (1990–2010)

Figures & data

Figure 1 Upper panel: map representing Italy and the boundaries of the 20 administrative regions (northern Italy: Va, Pi, Li, Lo, Tr, Ve, Fr, Em; central Italy: Tu, Ma, Um, La; southern Italy: Ab, Mo, Ca, Ap, Ba, Cal, Si, Sa). Lower panels: maps representing the distribution of the National Protected Areas (NPAs, left) and Natura2000 sites (right) in Italy.

Table 1 List of variables used in the Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) framework by theme, measurement unit and statistical source

Theme	Variable	Scale	Unit of measure	Data source
Soil quality	Soil texture	1:250,000	Sensitivity class	European Soil Database
	Soil depth	1:250,000	mm
	Parent material	1:250,000	Sensitivity class
	Slope angle	1:25,000	%
Climate quality	Annual mean rainfall rate	1:500,000	mm	Ministry of Agriculture
	Aridity index	1:500,000	mm/mm
	Aspect	1:25,000	Angle	Aster Digital Elevation Model
Vegetation quality	Fire risk	1:100,000	Sensitivity class	Corine Land Cover
	Erosion protection	1:100,000	Sensitivity class
	Drought resistance	1:100,000	Sensitivity class
	Vegetation cover	1:100,000	Sensitivity class
Land management	Population density	1:400,000	People km^−2	Census of population
	Demographic variation	1:400,000	%
	Land use intensity	1:100,000	Sensitivity class	Corine Land Cover

Figure 2 A flowchart illustrating the Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) methodology. ESAI, Environmentally Sensitive Area Index.

Table 2 Land classification based on hotspot analysis (for abbreviations, see paragraph 3.4)

ID	Initial class	Final class	Hotspot class (type)
1	NA →	NA	Non-affected, stable (a)
2	C →	NA	Improving (b)
3	F →	NA
4	C →	F
5	F →	F	Fragile (c)
6	NA →	F	Worsening (“critical” hotspot, d)
7	F →	C
8	NA →	C
9	C →	C	Critical, stable (“critical” hotspot, e)

Notes: NA = Not affected, C = Critical, F = Fragile.

Table 3 Descriptive statistics of the partial indicators (SQI, CQI, VQI, MQI) and the composite index (ESAI) by geographical division and land protection regime in Italy

	The whole area		NPAs		Natura2000 sites		Nonprotected areas
Region	Mean	CV	Mean	CV	Mean	CV	Mean	CV
	Soil Quality Index
North	1.517	7.1	1.566	6.3	1.555	6.8	1.509	7.0
Center	1.525	7.0	1.507	6.6	1.514	6.9	1.528	7.1
South	1.553	6.9	1.544	6.5	1.540	6.5	1.556	7.0
	Climate Quality Index (1990)
North	1.099	8.3	1.060	7.3	1.069	7.7	1.106	8.3
Center	1.156	8.1	1.149	7.5	1.152	7.9	1.157	8.1
South	1.293	10.0	1.244	9.7	1.275	9.9	1.301	9.9
	Climate Quality Index (2010)
North	1.127	7.8	1.103	7.4	1.105	7.6	1.132	7.8
Center	1.160	7.9	1.148	7.9	1.148	7.9	1.163	7.9
South	1.263	11.4	1.201	11.2	1.235	11.8	1.273	11.2
	Change 1990–2010 (%)
North	2.6	−6.3	4.1	0.6	3.4	−0.9	2.4	−6.6
Center	0.4	−1.7	−0.1	4.3	−0.4	0.2	0.5	−2.7
South	−2.3	13.8	−3.4	15.5	−3.1	19.0	−2.1	12.6
	Vegetation Quality Index (1990)
North	1.511	15.7	1.391	12.4	1.392	13.4	1.538	15.5
Center	1.502	16.8	1.388	16.3	1.358	15.6	1.533	16.3
South	1.503	15.6	1.368	14.7	1.403	15.5	1.538	14.9
	Vegetation Quality Index (2010)
North	1.432	14.4	1.433	13.3	1.422	13.9	1.435	14.5
Center	1.466	15.7	1.389	15.3	1.376	15.2	1.486	15.4
South	1.513	14.0	1.398	15.8	1.436	15.9	1.542	12.9
	Change 1990–2010 (%)
North	−5.2	−8.4	3.0	7.4	2.2	3.6	−6.7	−6.8
Center	−2.4	−6.8	0.0	−5.7	1.3	−2.4	−3.0	−5.3
South	0.7	−10.1	2.2	7.3	2.3	2.4	0.2	−13.7
	Land Management Quality Index (1990)
North	1.269	12.3	1.167	10.3	1.181	9.5	1.288	12.2
Center	1.259	11.3	1.244	12.1	1.194	9.1	1.270	11.3
South	1.270	12.2	1.207	9.9	1.209	10.1	1.290	12.3
	Land Management Quality Index (2010)
North	1.314	13.9	1.194	10.8	1.200	10.2	1.339	13.8
Center	1.307	13.5	1.274	15.3	1.222	11.6	1.322	13.3
South	1.272	11.6	1.207	9.4	1.211	9.5	1.291	11.7
	Change 1990–2010 (%)
North	3.5	13.5	2.2	5.5	1.6	7.5	3.9	13.0
Center	3.8	18.9	2.5	26.8	2.3	28.0	4.1	17.2
South	0.1	−4.7	0.0	−5.0	0.2	−5.7	0.1	−4.6
	ESAI (1990)
North	1.327	6.4	1.271	4.7	1.277	5.0	1.338	6.4
Center	1.342	6.5	1.307	6.3	1.290	5.7	1.353	6.4
South	1.388	6.3	1.326	5.7	1.343	6.1	1.404	6.0
	ESAI (2010)
North	1.347	6.6	1.295	4.8	1.295	5.0	1.358	6.6
Center	1.355	6.9	1.315	6.9	1.297	6.1	1.367	6.7
South	1.382	6.4	1.315	5.9	1.333	6.2	1.399	6.0
	Change 1990–2010 (%)
North	1.5	2.5	1.9	2.3	1.4	−0.2	1.5	2.8
Center	1.0	6.2	0.6	10.6	0.6	6.1	1.1	5.4
South	−0.4	1.0	−0.8	3.1	−0.7	2.6	−0.4	0.0

ESAI: Environmentally Sensitive Area Index; NPAs: National Protected Areas. Notes: CV = Coefficient of Variation.

Figure 3 Spatial distribution of soil vulnerability hotspots in Italy (1990–2010) based on the land classification system illustrated in Table 2.

Table 4 Percent distribution of land by hotspot class, geographical division and land protection regime

	Geographical division				Land protection regime
Class	North	Center	South	Italy	NPAs	Natura2000
Not affected, stable	18.7	19.3	6.8	13.9	23.6	24.4
Improving	4.2	2.0	1.4	2.6	4.1	4.1
Fragile	50.3	53.2	47.8	49.8	56.2	54.8
Worsening	1.4	0.8	1.7	1.4	0.9	1.0
Critical, stable	25.4	24.7	42.4	32.3	15.1	15.7
Total investigated land (km^2)	107,030	54,755	115,371	277,156	50,428	27,874

NPAs: National Protected Areas.

Figure 4 Percent class area under the Natura2000 and National Protected Areas (NPAs) regime on the total surface area of each hotspot class in Italy.