Dynamics and Major Drivers of Farmland Abandonment in Spain

This is a group task , you only need to write the part of background. The topic is more about dynamics of farmland abandonment in Europe , specifically , in Spain. In the background , you should pay attention to the status quo (problems, consequences ), potential drivers(natural constraints, land degradation, socio-economic factors, demographic structure, institutional framework) and others which you think necessary. I will upload some reference, and you need to find more reference , the amount should over 17. In the attach reference, you should give it a priority in" Modelling farmland abandonment "and "Farmland_abandonment_in_Europe". The repetitive rate should not over 10%. PS (this is a group task, you will modify the part of background in some extent when it accomplish, if our group have some suggestions)

Suggestions:

The red words should be modified.

Dynamics of Farmland Abandonment in Spain

Over the last couple of decades, the rate of land abandonment in Europe has increased significantly, resulting in environmental and social impacts. Notably, land abandonment is a dynamic process that is affected by various factors that vary over space and time (Li and Li 2017). The complex process involves political, socio-economic, and environmental factors whereby formerly cultivated lands are no longer economically viable due to socio-economic and positive conditions. The implications resulting from land abandonment can be positive or negative, and this depends on the agro-climatic conditions, conservation status, and local factors of the areas and the biodiversity within the area (Xie et al. 2014). As such, the extent and scope of environmental effects vary depending on location and time. Owing to the fact that land abandonment in Spain remains a contentious issue, there is still need for further research on the topic to formulate ways of addressing the issue. In regard to this, the focus of this study is the consequences and drivers of land abandonment in Spain, tools and policy measures developed for addressing the issue, the indicators and impacts of assessing the ecosystem services related to land abandonment, and the methods that can be used for assessing cultural, environmental, and socio-economic values.

Status Quo

Land abandonment is a complicated process that involves social, environmental, and economic aspects. In Europe, it is common in remote, less productive, and mountainous areas where the conditions are unfavorable for agriculture (Ustaoglu et al. 2018). There are various problems associated with the process. The most common are; landscape vegetation homogenization due to frequent wild fires, desertification and soil erosion, reduced water stocks, loss of biodiversity and reduced adapted species, and loss of aesthetic and cultural values due to disappearance of traditional forms of farming (Terres et al. 2015). These problems affect biodiversity in general and reduce the harvests from agriculture in such areas. Such issues have also contributed to increased calls for measures of addressing the issue.

However, there are also positive outcomes associated with land abandonment, owing to the fact that abandonment is associated with a fast re-colonization of the local plants hence enhancing recovery of critical natural processes within the ecosystem (Lasanta et al. 2017). Some of the positive outcomes of land abandonment include tree reforestation and natural re-colonization, recover of nutrient cycle and soils, improved soil quality and water regulation, and increased biodiversity (Lasanta et al. 2015). Even when land abandonment takes places unplaced, the land enjoys such positive outcomes, and this increases its productivity when agricultural activities resume.

Drivers of Land Abandonment

There is vast literature on the outcomes of land abandonment in Europe. The general finding from such studies is that land abandonment in Europe has taken place in marginal areas with relatively poor biophysical conditions that result in lower agricultural profitability (Maes et al. 2015; Merckx and Pereira 2015). Some of the most common factors for land abandonment include such bio-graphical features of farming land as aspect, elevation, and slope. However, these drivers are generally classified into land degradation, natural constraints, demographic structure, socio-economic factors, as well as institutional framework.

Land abandonment is also associated with diminishing opportunities of income in rural areas, leading to rural-urban migration (Shi et al. 2016; Zakkak et al. 2015).

PS: You can’t just copy the table in the provided reference, you need write your own sentence, besides, the formatting is strange. Specifically, you can use the style of the table, but you can’t copy that directly. If you don’t use the table, you should conclude the key point, and write your own sentence, rather than list the point one by one which is in the table from provided references .

However, the major drivers of agricultural land abandonment in Europe are classified as shown below.

Biophysical factors

Climate; these include aridity and low temperature.

Soil; this involves such factors as the depth of rooting, stoniness and texture of soil, drainage, and chemical properties of the particular soil (Su et al. 2018; Sil et al. 2019).

Economic Factors

Employment and agricultural income; the structure of employment and income also contributes to land abandonment as people tend to move to areas where there are favorable conditions for agriculture and sources of income.

Land market; involves such factors as the price of land in an area compared to prices in other areas, as well as the rate of land selling or buying within the region.

CAP Scheme; this involves decoupling direct payments resulting from a certain product. In terms of land, one of the major challenges is problems in renewing contracts after five years (Shi et al. 2018; Chaudhary et al. 2018). This has enhanced land abandonment, which is also partly due to the requirement for CAP sanitary needs from Eastern EU countries.

Farm Stability and Viability

Farm income; people tend to move away from a place in search for areas with higher farm income. Therefore, the infuene of this driver is done by comparing the farm income of a place to that of another place.

Investment made on the firm.

Percentage of subsidies in the income.

Consequences of Land Abandoment

As shown, land abandoment has become a major issue in Europe. Consequently, such countries as Spain have experienced some of the outcomes associated with the land abandoment practices. Whereas some of the outcomes are positive, others are negative.

Positive Outcomes

Land abandoment has several positive outcomes (Sutcliffe et al. 2015). Such outcomes include that it creates time for the restoration of the habitat and also rewilding;  it suports increase in soil fertility, water quality, soil carbon storage, and reduction in soil erosion. Further, it promotes soil recovery  and thus more effective hydrological regulation.

However, it also has various negative impacts (Hermoso et al. 2018). They include increasing soil erosion risks within areas which are hilly, reducing water supply, loss of cultural landscapes, biodiversity and pastures, as well as increasing treat to HNV farmlands, and increasing the risk of soil erosion within the areas.

Therefore, this study shows that land abandoment in Europe has become a rampant practice which has various outomes. This shows the need for policy measures aimed at regulating land abandonment in the bloc.

Reference List

Cerdà, A., Ackermann, O., Terol, E. and Rodrigo-Comino, J., 2019. Impact of farmland abandonment on water resources and soil conservation in citrus plantations in eastern Spain. Water, 11(4), p.824.

Chaudhary, S., Wang, Y., Dixit, A.M., Khanal, N.R., Xu, P., Fu, B., Yan, K., Liu, Q., Lu, Y. and Li, M., 2020. Spatiotemporal Degradation of Abandoned Farmland and Associated Eco-Environmental Risks in the High Mountains of the Nepalese Himalayas. Land, 9(1), p.1.

Chaudhary, S., Wang, Y., Khanal, N.R., Xu, P., Fu, B., Dixit, A.M., Yan, K., Liu, Q. and Lu, Y., 2018. Social impact of farmland abandonment and its eco-environmental vulnerability in the high mountain region of nepal: A case study of dordi river basin. Sustainability, 10(7), p.2331.

Du, J., Zeng, M., Xie, Z. and Wang, S., 2019. Power of Agricultural Credit in Farmland Abandonment: Evidence from Rural China. Land, 8(12), p.184.

Hermoso, V., Morán-Ordóñez, A. and Brotons, L., 2018. Assessing the role of Natura 2000 at maintaining dynamic landscapes in Europe over the last two decades: implications for conservation. Landscape Ecology, 33(8), pp.1447-1460.

Lasanta, T., Arnáez, J., Pascual, N., Ruiz-Flaño, P., Errea, M.P. and Lana-Renault, N., 2017. Space–time process and drivers of land abandonment in Europe. Catena, 149, pp.810-823

Lasanta, T., Nadal-Romero, E. and Arnáez, J., 2015. Managing abandoned farmland to control the impact of re-vegetation on the environment. The state of the art in Europe. Environmental Science & Policy, 52, pp.99-109.

Li, S. and Li, X., 2017. Global understanding of farmland abandonment: A review and prospects. Journal of Geographical Sciences, 27(9), pp.1123-1150.

Maes, J., Barbosa, A., Baranzelli, C., Zulian, G., e Silva, F.B., Vandecasteele, I., Hiederer, R., Liquete, C., Paracchini, M.L., Mubareka, S. and Jacobs-Crisioni, C., 2015. More green infrastructure is required to maintain ecosystem services under current trends in land-use change in Europe. Landscape ecology, 30(3), pp.517-534.

Merckx, T. and Pereira, H.M., 2015. Reshaping agri-environmental subsidies: From marginal farming to large-scale rewilding. Basic and Applied Ecology, 16(2), pp.95-103

Shi, T., Li, X., Xin, L. and Xu, X., 2016. Analysis of farmland abandonment at parcel level: A case study in the mountainous area of China. Sustainability, 8(10), p.988.

Shi, T., Li, X., Xin, L. and Xu, X., 2018. The spatial distribution of farmland abandonment and its influential factors at the township level: A case study in the mountainous area of China. Land Use Policy, 70, pp.510-520.

Sil, Â., Fernandes, P.M., Rodrigues, A.P., Alonso, J.M., Honrado, J.P., Perera, A. and Azevedo, J.C., 2019. Farmland abandonment decreases the fire regulation capacity and the fire protection ecosystem service in mountain landscapes. Ecosystem services, 36, p.100908.

Su, G., Okahashi, H. and Chen, L., 2018. Spatial pattern of farmland abandonment in Japan: Identification and determinants. Sustainability, 10(10), p.3676.

Sutcliffe, L.M., Batáry, P., Kormann, U., Báldi, A., Dicks, L.V., Herzon, I., Kleijn, D., Tryjanowski, P., Apostolova, I., Arlettaz, R. and Aunins, A., 2015. Harnessing the biodiversity value of Central and Eastern European farmland. Diversity and Distributions, 21(6), pp.722-730.

Terres, J.M., Scacchiafichi, L.N., Wania, A., Ambar, M., Anguiano, E., Buckwell, A., Coppola, A., Gocht, A., Källström, H.N., Pointereau, P. and Strijker, D., 2015. Farmland abandonment in Europe: Identification of drivers and indicators, and development of a composite indicator of risk. Land Use Policy, 49, pp.20-34.

Ustaoglu, E. and Collier, M.J., 2018. Farmland abandonment in Europe: an overview of drivers, consequences, and assessment of the sustainability implications. Environmental Reviews, 26(4), pp.396-416.

Xie, H., Wang, P. and Yao, G., 2014. Exploring the dynamic mechanisms of farmland abandonment based on a spatially explicit economic model for environmental sustainability: A case study in Jiangxi Province, China. Sustainability, 6(3), pp.1260-1282.

Zakkak, S., Radovic, A., Nikolov, S.C., Shumka, S., Kakalis, L. and Kati, V., 2015. Assessing the effect of agricultural land abandonment on bird communities in southern-eastern Europe. Journal of environmental management, 164, pp.171-179.