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Riconquistare il paesaggio
less than 5% and the extent of habitat conversion exceeds that of habitat protection by a factor
which is greater than 8 (Hoekstra et al. 2005). In comparison, the extent of habitat conversion
exceeds that of habitat protection by a factor of 4 in temperate broadleaf and mixed forests,
tropical dry forests, and tropical conifer forests, usually considered among the most endangered
ecosystems in the world (Myers et al. 2000).
However, despite their importance, protected areas cannot be the only conservation tool used
in regions of high human densities (Tilman et al. 1994; Carroll et al. 2003). Our results suggest
that a comprehensive management plan to take into account biodiversity conservation in the
little remaining natural matrix of the Mediterranean coastal areas is urgently needed to complement
the function of the protected areas. Moreover, much more emphasis should be placed
on preserving and reintroducing traditional land use management activities, because the Mediterranean
landscape and its biotic assemblages have developed as a consequence of past (and
now disappearing) human activities.
Future conservation efforts should address the broad socio-political and ecological processes
that are most likely to occur across the whole hotspot, especially along coastal areas, and the
network of protected areas should be functionally integrated in a conservation strategy that explicitly
includes the human dominated matrix and the traditional land-use practices. In this context,
analysis of land-use/land-cover changes within the various macro-regions provide significant
support to conservation planning by producing accurate information regarding local threats and
costs of action.
Acknowledgements
This work is mainly based on a series of analyses presented in Falcucci A., Maiorano L. and Boitani L.
2007: Changes in land-use/land-cover patterns in Italy and their implications for biodiversity conservation.
Landscape Ecology 22:617-631. A.F. and L.M. were supported by the Directorate for Nature
Conservation (Italian Ministry of the Environment). Jianguo Wu, James Wickham, A. Montemaggiori, C.
Rondinini, V. Salvatori, and I. Sinibaldi provided valuable comments and contributions.
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