An assessment and spatial modelling of agricultural land abandonment in Spain (2015-2030)

This article presents a study based on the outputs from the LUISA Territorial modelling platform (Joint Research Centre of the European Commission) focused on regional and local future projections of land abandonment between 2015 and 2030. Spain is taken as representative of one of the countries highly affected by agricultural land abandonment in the European Union. The most relevant factors driving land abandonment (biophysical, agroeconomics, farm structure and demographic) are described and mapped. Results from the analysis reveal that the Galicia region, northern Spain (Asturias, Cantabria, Gipuzkoa, Bizkaia), north-eastern Spain (Aragón region), central Pyrenees/Ebro basin (Huesca, Navarra, Lleida) and south-eastern Spain (Murcia, Almería, Alicante, Málaga) are expected to undergo important abandonment processes. The study also concludes that land abandonment within mountainous, high nature value farmland and Natura 2000 areas is lower compared to the outside area without conservation and protection measures.

PERPIÑA CASTILLO Carolina;  COLL ALIAGA Eloina Peregrina;  LAVALLE Carlo;  MARTINEZ LARIO Jose Carlos; 

2020-01-16

MDPI

JRC119322

2071-1050 (online),   

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/2/560,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC119322,   

10.3390/su12020560 (online),