Figure - uploaded by Matjaž Geršič
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
This article presents the current state of protection of terraced landscapes as an important type of cultural landscape, both globally and in Slovenia. The UNESCO World Heritage List, the Satoyama Initiative list, and the Slovenian Register of Immovable Cultural Heritage are analyzed. The findings show that terraces rarely appear as a factor justif...
Citations
... Terraced landscapes are disappearing in places due to overgrowth (see also Gabrovec & Kumer, 2019;Moreno-de-las-Heras et al., 2019) or inappropriate management; however, they have been recognised as an important landscape element that needs to be protected and considered for revitalisation. Still, no clear criteria for identifying terraces have been developed and the management system is still fragmented in some areas, for example, in Slovenia (Kladnik et al., 2017b). Land abandonment and ageing of the owners are some of the reasons for the poor maintenance of terraces . ...
Cultivated terraces are phenomena that have been protected in some areas for both their cultural heritage and food production purposes. Some terraced areas are disappearing but could be revitalised. To this end, recognition techniques need to be developed and terrace registers need to be established. The goal of this study was to recognise terraces using deep learning based on Lidar DEM. Lidar data is a valuable resource in countries with overgrown terraces. The U-net model training was conducted using data from the Slovenian terraces register for southwestern Slovenia and was subsequently applied to the entire country. We then analysed the agreement between the terraces register and the terraces recognised by deep learning. The overall accuracy of the model was 85%; however, the kappa index was only 0.22. The success rate was higher in some regions. Our results achieved lower accuracy compared to studies from China, where similar techniques were used but which incorporated satellite imagery, DEM, as well as land use data. This study was the first attempt at deep learning terrace recognition based solely on high-resolution DEM, highlighting examples of false terrace recognition that may be related to natural or other artificial terrace-like features.
... Many valuable types of landscapes and habitats are the result of e.g., agricultural activity and are considered part of the natural heritage (Halada et al. 2011). Many artificial, landscape elements are also accompanied by the presence of valuable ecosystems, creating important biocultural types of landscape, e.g., species-rich-habitats on terraced landscapes (Kladnik et al. 2017;Slámová and Belčáková 2019). The protection of the biocultural landscape must respect the fact that culture and nature mutually interact. ...
The European Landscape Convention aims to promote landscape protection, management and planning. This must be done based on identification and knowledge of those basic landscape types that were created by the interaction of human and nature over the course of historical development. This paper presents a methodological approach for creation and evaluation of representative biocultural types of landscape, in order to elaborate an effective strategy for landscape protection, and proposes a management strategy of sustainable use of representative biocultural landscapes of Slovakia. That will ensure the regular maintenance of the landscape in view of current global trends and factors affecting the landscape. Our interdisciplinary approach is based on previous landscape classifications and the interaction of natural and cultural elements. The classification of the biocultural landscape is obtained as a result of multi-criteria analysis in GIS and synthesis of maps of potential vegetation, real ecosystems and current land use, abiotic conditions of representative geoecosystems of Slovakia, and other specific statistical data. We assessed the perception and significance of individual landscape types by way of a questionnaire survey. In Slovakia, seven basic types of landscape were singled out, ranging from natural to semi-natural to anthropogenic, within which other subtypes were specified. We assessed the protection of individual types, as well as threats and degradation of the landscape. Insufficient protection is given to the most valuable types of biocultural landscape and new tools and methods of support and protection have to be implemented.
... The spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics of cultural heritage in the Yellow River Basin is mainly scattered in marginal areas with a low development level, small populations, and few traces of social production and life throughout history [47][48][49][50]. ...
Understanding the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of the cultural heritage of the Yellow River Basin can effectively improve the scientific understanding of the historical changes, environmental evolution, and cultural and economic development of the Yellow River Basin and thus provide a scientific and reasonable decision-making basis for the protection and development of its cultural heritage. The research object of this paper are the national cultural relic protection units. These are examined using the GIS spatial analysis method to explore the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and spatial structure of 2,102 national material cultural heritage sites in the Yellow River basin. The results show that the spatial distribution of cultural heritage has a significant spatial agglomeration effect. The whole basin is concentrated in stable high- and low-value areas, and the difference between the high- and low-value areas is clear. Some aspects of the spatial structure heterogeneity are strong, showing a low value dispersion distribution trend. In different periods, the distribution direction and scope of cultural heritage have low ranges of rotation, a clear direction, and a high degree of centripetal distribution. The spatial and temporal distribution of cultural heritage is the result of the combined action of natural geographical environment such as climate change, topography, river hydrology, and human environment such as administrative institutional changes, ideological evolution, and social and economic development.
... We identify biocultural diversity hotspots in Slovakia as a focus for conservation efforts. By analyzing a network of national natural and cultural heritage we establish that the majority of these sites are shaped by human activities (Agnoletti & Rotherham, 2015;Maffi & Woodley, 2010) but retain species-rich habitats (Dobrovodská et al., 2019;Kladnik et al., 2017;Slamova et al., 2015) in 315 urban or rural areas (10.89% of all settlements). These green spaces positively affect urban environments, support the creation of biodiversity-friendly urban landscapes, and provide various benefits (environmental, social and economic) to urban areas, which (despite legal limits) are constantly expanding (Pauleit et al. 2017;Richards, Belcher 2019;Bezák et al. 2020). ...
We identify hotspots of biocultural value on the national level in Slovakia in order: (1) to define indicators for the identification and evaluation of biocultural landscape types; (2) to analyze sites of natural and cultural heritage that create valuable biocultural landscapes, and (3) to identify hot-spots of biocultural landscape in Slovakia. Reflecting the transformation of original habitats, we distinguished five degrees of natural vegetation: three—sub-natural, quasi-natural and semi-natural—include habitats dependent on human management, areas of historical green infrastructure, and high environmental value farmland with the presence of natural/semi-natural habitats. We include natural or semi-natural landscape features, specifically arboreta, historical parks, and cultural monuments with historical green infrastructure among hotspots of biocultural value. Such areas have been preserved in 10.89% of urban or rural settlements in Slovakia.
... UNESCO recognized the value of the terraced landscapes at the end of the 20 th century, as they have become an important cultural heritage, as an example of humanity adaptation to the natural environment. Three European terraced regions were included in the UNESCO list of protected cultural heritage sites, one in Italy (Cinque Terre), one in Spain (Serra de Tramuntana) and the one in the Alto Douro region in Portugal (Drago et al, 2017). ...
... Cultural landscapes are the result of a natural process combined with a human one. The value of such areas is related to ecological, cultural, historical and aesthetic roles but its main role was and still is produce food (Drago et al, 2017). Nevertheless, there is a new role as cultural destinations, related to leisure and tourism (Minguez, 2012;Klimanova and Kolbowsky, 2017). ...
High Precipitation Events (HPEs) are common in the Mediterranean basin, causing effects such as floods or landslides. Those effects cause impacts, ranging from economic damages to the loss of life. Amongst the damages, the impact on man-made landscapes is also common, affecting both rural and urbanized spaces. The terraced land, built across the Mediterranean, for farming purposes, suffers from HPEs when the terraces cannot cope with the large amount of falling rain. In that sense, it is important to study how rainfall affects the terraces in terms of rock fall and mass movements. Such impacts can damage the economic purpose of the farmlands but also affect other activities developed on rural spaces, like trekking or biking. In this research, the impact of precipitation over a heavily terraced valley in Mallorca is studied, both in terms of impacts and regarding human-related leisure activities as well. The methodology follows five steps, combining aerial photos and satellite images analysis with fieldwork and the study of the obtained data using computer tools. The results show how the terraces cannot cope with large amounts of rain, which increase the risk of collapse and affecting activities developed in these areas. The need of measures to protect those cultural landscapes is highlighted as well as the need of an improved statistical analysis, because results show a moderate correlation between rainfall and stones movement across terraces.
... The agrarian wall and terrace systems already existed in developed ancient European cultures (Price & Nixon, 2005) and these were especially apparent in the Mediterranean area (Andlar et al., 2017;Tarolli et al., 2014). These landscapes and other relict agrarian landforms now have great bio-cultural value (Agnoletti et Kladnik et al., 2017). However, these are often threatened by abandonment and afforestation (Lieskovsky et al., 2013;Momirski & Kladnik, 2009;Spulerov a, Bez ak, et al., 2017;Tarolli et al., 2014), urbanisation and agricultural intensification, heavy-machinery land-levelling, and the construction of landslide-prone bench terraces (Cots-Folch et al., 2006). ...
High-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scanners provide detailed information on terrain surfaces, thus enabling the detection of the topographic signatures of historical anthropogenic landforms overgrown by trees or covered by the soil surface. This study aimed to examine the potential of incoming nationwide LiDAR data for detecting the cultural landscape features in Slovakia. We derived a detailed digital elevation model from LiDAR points and adopted upgraded visualisation techniques based on the combination of local relief models, sky view factor, slope steepness, and colour blending. We visually identified examples of different anthropogenic landforms and confirmed our findings with existing literature. In addition, we provide examples of previously unknown historical anthropogenic landforms discovered from LiDAR images. Finally, we discuss the potential and limits of LiDAR data in exploring and protecting different groups of historic anthropogenic landforms as remnants of past cultural landscapes in Slovakia.
... However, these features of terraced landscapes, along with their aesthetic values, are retained only in wellpreserved terraces. To date, a total of 25 terraced landscapes are listed among UNESCO's Cultural Heritage Sites, with a concentration in the Mediterranean area (Kladnik et al. 2017). ...
... In any case, the loss of terraces results in the loss of a cultural landscape of high relevance and, consequently, it can cause irreparable damage to the local traditions, identity, sense of place and cultural ecosystem services (Vos and Meekes 1999;Schaich et al. 2010). In this perspective, any action aimed at preventing and reducing the loss of terraces is valuable (Antrop 2005;Kladnik et al. 2017). The preservation of traditional agriculture and related practices is thus pivotal for safeguarding natural and cultural landscapes, which are becoming increasingly relevant in the Mediterranean area Cicinelli et al. 2018). ...
Cultivated terraces are outstanding modifications of mountains and hills to obtain arable land. These terraced agricultural systems are widespread traditional landscapes within the Mediterranean area. The cultivated terraces of the Amalfi Coast (Southern Italy) are outstanding examples of cultural landscapes, and they represent one of the key descriptors of the UNESCO Site. Terraces have characterized the landscape of the Amalfi Coast for a long time as their construction started during the Middle Age. However, their conservation is now threatened by abandonment, which has dramatically risen in the last 60 years, and by the ongoing climatic changes with the increased incidence of heavy rainfall events. We combined interviews with local farmers and vegetation surveys to understand which management activities are carried out to improve the conservation of cultivated terraces on the Amalfi Coast. To this end, we analyzed the linkages between these management practices and their influence on the vegetation growing on the terrace risers. Our informants identified the maintenance of waterways and walls as crucial factors influencing terrace and slope stability. The preservation of the integrity of terraces depends on periodic vegetation control and the maintenance of water drainage systems, which are carried out thanks to the active presence of farmers. According to our informants, the vegetation growing on the walls has a relevant role in the stability of terraces, and we found a prevalence of Hemicryptophytes that increase with the number of interventions over the year. Thus, active and vital agriculture becomes pivotal for the preservation of this cultural heritage.
... In February 2021, the register included 317 cultural landscapes. Some of them are locally or nationally significant since they have very clearly expressed characteristics (e.g., terraced landscapes [45,46]). ...
... As such, they are important for national, as well as regional, identity (e.g., a distinct form of cultural terraces that only appears in certain regions, a certain type of hayracks, a clearly expressed and preserved filed division system, etc.). However, this is not always recognized among heritage experts, as identified already by Kladnik et al. [45]. ...
Although each landscape has its own identity, only some of them are recognized as nationally important because of their cultural and natural values and their contribution to national identity. In Slovenia, these landscapes are listed in the national Spatial Development Strategy (adopted in 2004). However, this list was neither supported by implementation instruments nor integrated in any conservation or management policy documents and was poorly integrated into spatial plans. The aim of this research was to renew the methodology for identifying landscapes of national importance. The methods included in-depth interviews with experts, an online questionnaire, par-ticipatory workshops, and field visits. The questionnaire results showed that only eight land-scapes from the original list of 62 were explicitly recognized as nationally important, which con-firmed the hypothesis that the initial method was not transparent and that the criteria were bi-ased. The proposed approach included the following criteria: (1) representativeness, (2) the quali-ty of the landscape features, and (3) the cultural and scientific value. The methodology was ac-companied with the list of landscape features and landscape types that are important for Slove-nian national identity; recommendations for implementing the method on national, regional, and local levels; and the general guidelines for spatial planning and management of these landscapes.
... In a certain sense, it looks as if politics is more concerned with self-celebration of the national or international recognition. From this perspective, the increasing tendency to 'heritagization' on the existing landscape finds its apotheosis with entry into the UnESCO World Heritage List 19 (Brandolini, 2017;Kladnik et al., 2017). However, especially in the first case, the recognition conferred by the insertion of a terraced landscape into a historical heritage circuit, leaves all the related problems unresolved and induces new ones. ...
Viticulture, together with olive cultivation, represents the main productive use of Italian terracing. By means of photo-cartographic analyses, this article reconstructs a localized and size-related picture of the country’s principal terraced viticulture systems. It analyses their historical processes from the beginning and the correlated causes of abandonment which have affected them, with significant consequences for the hydro-geological assets of the slopes concerned. Finally, it highlights the limits and necessities of the political-territorial actions developed around these realities.
Key words: Terraced land; viticulture; land abandonment.
La viticultura, junto con la oleicultura, representa el principal uso productivo de las terrazas de cultivo en Italia. Mediante análisis fotocartográficos, este artículo reconstruye el tamaño y la localización de los principales sistemas de viticultura en terrazas del País. Se analizan sus procesos “genéticos” y las causas de abandono que los han afectado, con consecuencias significativas sobre el régimen hidrogeológico de las laderas en cuestión. Posterior-mente, el artículo presenta los límites y las necesidades de las acciones político-territoriales desarrolladas en torno a estas realidades.
palabras clave: Terrazas agrícolas; viticultura; abandono del campo.
... The best-known protected terraced landscapes worldwide are mentioned in studies by Tarolli, Preti and Romano (2014), Peters (2015), Varotto (2015), and Kladnik, Šmid Hribar and Geršič (2017). In Slovenia, the first detailed study of agricultural terraces and terraced landscapes was conducted by Titl (1965) and Moritsch (1969) followed by Ažman Momirski et al. (2008) significantly later. ...
... Despite the deficiencies indicated in the section on methodology and the significant differences between the pilot areas resulting from Slovenia's landscape and developmental diversity, our findings mostly agree with the hypothesis formulated at the beginning of the article. The typology of land-use change that we have developed sheds additional light on the land-use characteristics of Slovenian terraced landscapes that were already established earlier and presented in many studies (Petek 2007 Momirski and Berčič 2016;Berčič 2016;Geršič et al. 2016;Kladnik et al. 2016;Gabrovec and Tiran 2017;Geršič et al. 2017;Kladnik, Šmid Hribar and Geršič 2017;Pipan and Kokalj 2017;Pipan and Repolusk 2017;Pipan, Šmid Hribar and Topole 2017;Šmid Hribar et al. 2017). Specifically, it presents the differences between terraced and non-terraced land in these landscapes, which has never been done before. ...
This article presents the findings of a study on long-term land-use changes in eight areas of various Slovenian landscapes. The emphasis is on comparing changes on terraced and non-terraced land from the early nineteenth century to the present and on a typological classification of land-use change, whereby a fifth type (i.e., extensification) is added to the established four types in Slovenia: afforestation, grass overgrowth, intensification, and urbanization. The article explains which factors have a decisive impact on land-use changes, especially in terms of abandoning terrace cultivation. The methodology used proves that there are important differences in the rate of land-use change between terraced and non-terraced land.
