We spoke with Élia Pires Marques (University of Évora) about the work on land use systems carried out in the MOVING project.
What work is MOVING doing on the diversity of land use systems?
The characterisation of farming and forestry systems (land use systems) in the selected Mountain Reference Regions (MRR) is one of the objectives of MOVING. This exercise is carried out through the work package on Development of visual science-society-policy interface tools, which is lead by University of Évora (Portugal).
Land use refers to the purpose for which people use the land and it may include different aspects, such as the level of energy inputs or the land management type.
Why is this work being carried out?
This exercise aims to identify and systematise information about the land use systems existing in the selected MOVING Reference Regions. It will allow the establishment of linkages between the region specific land use systems and expected changes driven by new large-scale environmental conditions. Furthermore, it will improve the transferability of place-based research to understand processes of change in similar areas.
To achieve so, we have analysed existing spatial datasets for the identification of the main patterns and trends of land covers and land systems.
Which spatial datasets were used?
The main databases used in the analysis are:
- Land Cover
- Dominant Tree Species
- Tree Cover
- Land Systems
- Human Appropriation of Net Primary Productivity
- Wood Production
- Alpha- and Beta-Multifunctionality.
What are the main findings so far?
In terms of areas covered in most of the MRRs:
- According to CORINE Land Cover (2018), the largest land cover classes are ‘Forest’ and/or ‘Shrub and/or herbaceous vegetation association’;
- Following Van Asselen and Verburg (2012), the biggest land systems classes are ‘Forest with few livestock’ and/or ‘Mosaic grassland and forest’;
- For Rega et al (2020) the biggest crop-management systems are ‘Grasslands and meadows with high’, ‘medium’ and/or ‘low energy input values’ and/or ‘Non-agricultural areas with low energy input values’.
This is the second of a series of interviews presenting the work carried out and development of the reseach project, MOVING.