Combining demographic and land-use dynamics with local communities perception for analysing socio-ecological systems: a case study in a mountain area of Italy
Rural communities are facing increasing social heterogeneity and organization
complexity consequently to land use changes, demographic dynamics and globalization processes. Members of the communities should have a direct perception of their own territories, recognizing any positive or negative change
that may occur. A better knowledge of these processes may be achieved by investigating local community awareness and perspectives. A research was carried
out in a rural and mountainous area of Central Italy with the following
aims: (i) to highlight demographic dynamics and land use changes that affected
the area during the last decades; (ii) to assess local communities' perceptions
and awareness of their own territories; (iii) to verify and validate a research
methodology by evaluating the resilience of socio-ecological systems. The
study area involved four municipalities that were analyzed considering the historical
changes of demographic data and land-use system. A questionnaire was
submitted to a sample of local population. The questionnaire was aimed to investigate the following issues: (i) level and quality of participation and communication within the community life; (ii) awareness of environmental resources
of the territories; (iii) socio-cultural opportunities and expectations of future
changes within the communities. In each municipality, different behaviors and
needs emerged according to the age of the inhabitants. In spite of that, awareness
of social, cultural and environmental constraints/potentialities emerged in
all the communities. Communication capability seems a key factor to reinforce
both the social capital and the resilience of the territories. Thus, sharing of experience and knowledge could play a major role in developing an efficient governance of the occurring territorial changes. Finally, the study highlights that
serious efforts should be spent especially to satisfy expectations of young
people concerning the territorial development. This latter seems a prerequisite
for the maintenance of the system resilience.
http://www.sisef.it/iforest/contents/?id=ifor0615-005
Contact: Andrea Pisanelli
Project Dates: 2012
Keywords: Participatory Governance, Social Capital, Social Survey, Rural Areas