Agriculture and land use: context analysis and future perspectives from the Mediterranean to the Apulia region

Land use patterns have, over the centuries, reflected the continuous interaction between human activities and natural environment, and have resulted in significant environmental impacts and its consequences, both positive and negative on the well-being of human groups. The scarcity of resources, land and water, represents a great social challenge, especially in a context of climate change and food insecurity. These challenges are particularly significant for the Mediterranean, a region characterized by dynamic population and high density, with strong constraints on land and water resources. The Mediterranean has a long history of land use and represents one of the richest areas in terms of biodiversity; because of its cultural and environmental characteristics and its long history, the Mediterranean basin hosts a variety of land use systems of varying intensity and levels, ranging from intensive systems to traditional "mosaic" ones. These traditional mosaic systems are associated with high biodiversity values and landscapes particularly vulnerable to global changes, which see their survival threatened not only in terms of food supply, but also with respect to a number of ecosystem services linked to the multifunctional dimension of agriculture. In this context, starting from the report on land use in Italy, the contribution aims to provide a broad and precise picture of its current patterns at different levels, up to the Apulian regional scale. Agriculture itself, to which the delicate issue of land use is necessarily linked, today represents a fundamental strategic sector for the Mediterranean countries, whose centrality in Euro-Mediterranean regional cooperation requires an in depth reflection and analysis.