The recovery of mountain open areas: analysis of land use changes in the Tuscan Apennines

Abstract

The increasing demand for high-standard animal husbandry products in several mountain areas, determines the need for large areas suitable for grazing. According to the set of regulations of Tuscany Region, the selection of reclaimed areas suitable for grazing, must consider planning and decision making processes that benefit of methods and principles oriented to quantify and qualify the land use changes.
The Authors deal with these topics by using a case study approach. They focus on the landscape changes in twomunicipal districts on the Tuscan Apennines. The results highlight that in the last few decades the open areasremarkably decreased, and the agricultural land was nearly completely lost, giving rise to fallow lands covered byshrubby vegetation and neo-formation woods. It is moreover pointed out the diminishing presence of cultivatedwoodlands, e.g. chestnut orchards, formerly used also for grazing activities.