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The paper by Zoncová et al. used CORINE land cover data for mapping extent and character of land cover changes in the Low Tatras National Park in Slovakia over the last 30 years (1990-2018). It is increasingly recognized that land use and land cover changes driven by anthropogenic pressures are increasingly impacting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and their services, human society, and human livelihoods and well-being. [Extracted from the article]

Current and future scenarios for global agricultural systems under a changing climate require innovative approaches, novel datasets, and methods for improving environmental resource management and better data-driven decision-making. MODIS data were complemented with Copernicus FCover, VIIRS satellite, and climatic data to consider vegetation cover, phenological phases, and seasonality of precipitation. EO data and GIScience will certainly be pivotal in ensuring the implementation of European Union (EU) and global policies such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or the EU's Green Deal. [Extracted from the article]

Homegrown fruits and vegetables are gaining popularity in many metropolitan areas with several facets connected to the wider urban agriculture phenomenon. At the same time, the relationship between urban food production and irrigation water is pivotal in terms of resource management. In this paper, we investigated water savings through the collection and use of harvestable rainwater from buildings' rooftops to irrigate 2631 fruits and vegetables gardens in the urban area of Rome (Italy). The methodology makes use of existing geospatial data and data derived from satellite image classification to estimate food gardens' irrigation requirements and harvestable rainwater from nearby buildings' rooftops. The comparison of the annual harvestable rainwater with irrigation needs allowed for computing the proportion of water self-sufficient gardens as well as the amount of gardens whose water needs might be partially fulfilled with rainwater. Statistics were produced by land use type (horticulture, mixed crops, olive groves, orchards, and vineyards) and under the hypothesis that irrigation systems with low and high field application efficiency might be employed. We found that 19% and 33% of the gardens could be water self-sufficient for the low and high irrigation efficiency scenario, respectively. The remaining gardens, by using the available rainwater, could satisfy 22% (low efficiency) and 44% (high efficiency) of the water needs resulting in a reduction in the use of conventional water sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deforestation and forest degradation have several negative effects on the environment including a loss of species habitats, disturbance of the water cycle and reduced ability to retain CO2, with consequences for global warming. We investigated the evolution of forest resources from development regions in Romania affected by both deforestation and reforestation using a non-Euclidean method based on fractal analysis.We calculated four fractal dimensions of forest areas: the fractal box-counting dimension of the forest areas, the fractal box-counting dimension of the dilated forest areas, the fractal dilation dimension and the box-counting dimension of the border of the dilated forest areas. Fractal analysis revealed morpho-structural and textural differentiations of forested, deforested and reforested areas in development regions with dominant mountain relief and high hills (more forested and compact organization) in comparison to the development regions dominated by plains or low hills (less forested, more fragmented with small and isolated clusters). Our analysis used the fractal analysis that has the advantage of analyzing the entire image, rather than studying local information, thereby enabling quantification of the uniformity, fragmentation, heterogeneity and homogeneity of forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of environmental sustainability there has been an increasing interest in bioenergy production from renewable resources, and is expected that European biofuel production from energy crops will increase as a consequence of the achievement of policy targets. The aim of this paper is to assess the agronomic feasibility of biomass crop cultivation to provide profitable renewable feedstocks in a marginal and heavy-metal polluted area located in the Sulcis district, Sardinia (Italy). Results from literature review and unpublished data from field trials carried out in Sardinia were analysed to establish the main agronomic traits of crops (e.g., yield potential and input requirements). A Geographical Information System (GIS)-based procedure with remotely sensed data is also used to evaluate the land suitability and the actual land use/cover, considering a future scenario of expansion of energy crops on these marginal areas avoiding potential conflicts with food production. The results of the review suggests that giant reed, native perennial grasses and milk thistle are the most suitable energy crops for this area. The land suitability analysis shows that about 5700 ha and 1000 ha could be available for feedstock cultivation in the study area and in the most polluted area, respectively. The results obtained from land suitability process and agronomic evaluation will serve as a base to support technical and economical feasibility studies, as well as for the evaluation of environmental sustainability of the cultivation in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable management of water resources plays a key role in Mediterranean viticulture, characterized by scarcity and competition of available water. This study focuses on estimating the evapotranspiration and crop coefficients of table grapes vineyards trained on overhead "tendone" systems in the Apulia region (Italy). Maximum vineyard transpiration was estimated by adopting the "direct" methodology for ETp proposed by the Food and Agriculture Organization in Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 56, with crop parameters estimated from Landsat 8 and RapidEye satellite data in combination with ground-based meteorological data. The modeling results of two growing seasons (2013 and 2014) indicated that canopy growth, seasonal and 10-day sums evapotranspiration values were strictly related to thermal requirements and rainfall events. The estimated values of mean seasonal daily evapotranspiration ranged between 4.2 and 4.1 mm·d-1, while midseason estimated values of crop coefficients ranged from 0.88 to 0.93 in 2013, and 1.02 to 1.04 in 2014, respectively. The experimental evapotranspiration values calculated represent the maximum value in absence of stress, so the resulting crop coefficients should be used with some caution. It is concluded that the retrieval of crop parameters and evapotranspiration derived from remotely-sensed data could be helpful for downscaling to the field the local weather conditions and agronomic practices and thus may be the basis for supporting grape growers and irrigation managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consequences of climate change on food security in arid and semi-arid regions can be serious. Understanding climate change impacts on water balance is critical to assess future crop performance and develop sustainable adaptation strategies. This paper presents a climate change impact study on the water balance components of an agricultural watershed in the Mediterranean region. The restructured version of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT+) model was used to simulate the hydrological components in the Sulcis watershed (Sardinia, Italy) for the baseline period and compared to future climate projections at the end of the 21st century. The model was forced using data from two Regional Climate Models under the representative concentration pathways RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios developed at a high resolution over the European domain. River discharge data were used to calibrate and validate the SWAT+ model for the baseline period, while the future hydrological response was evaluated for the mid-century (2006–2050) and late-century (2051–2098). The model simulations indicated a future increase in temperature, decrease in precipitation, and consequently increase in potential evapotranspiration in both RCP scenarios. Results show that these changes will significantly decrease water yield, surface runoff, groundwater recharge, and baseflow. These results highlight how hydrological components alteration by climate change can benefit from modelling high-resolution future scenarios that are useful for planning mitigation measures in agricultural semi-arid Mediterranean regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioenergy represents the highest share of renewable energies consumed in the European Union and is still expected to grow. This could be possible by exploring bioenergy production on Marginal, Underutilised, and Contaminated lands (MUC) that are not used for agricultural purposes and therefore, present no competition with food/feed production. In this paper, the viability and sustainability of bioenergy value chains on these lands is investigated and measures for market uptake were developed. Using three case study areas in Italy, Ukraine, and Germany, a screening of MUC lands was conducted, then an agronomic assessment was performed to determine the most promising crops. Then, techno-economic assessments followed by sustainability assessments were performed on selected value chains. This concept was then automated and expanded through the development of a webGIS tool. The tool is an online platform that allows users to locate MUC lands in Europe, to define a value chain through the selection of bioenergy crops and pathways, and to conduct sustainability assessments measuring a set of environmental, social, and economic sustainability indicators. The findings showed positive results in terms of profitability and greenhouse gas emissions for bioethanol production from willow in Ukraine, heat and power production from miscanthus, and biogas and chemicals production from grass in Germany. The webGIS tool is considered an important decision-making tool for stakeholders, which gives first insights on the viability and sustainability of bioenergy value chains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 emergency has revealed the extreme fragility of large cities to unexpected complex global risks and crises. City lockdown has led to increasing awareness of the vital importance of food availability for citizens. The combined effect of border closure and movement restrictions increased food losses and export costs, especially for vegetables and perishable goods exposing non-self-sufficient countries. We claim the idea that urban agriculture in developed countries should be fostered with emerging growing practices and edible green infrastructures, such as vertical farming, hydroponics, aeroponic, aquaponic, and rooftop greenhouses. Notwithstanding the limitations of traditional urban farming activities, innovative and disruptive solutions and short food supply chains of fresh agricultural products might play a positive role in lessening uncertainties from global systemic risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting the availability and quality of freshwater resources is a pressing concern in the Mediterranean area, where a number of agricultural systems depend solely on precipitation. This study aims at predicting streamflow and nonpoint pollutant loads in a temporary river system in the Mediterranean basin (Sulcis area, Sardinia, Italy). Monthly discharge, suspended sediment, nitrate nitrogen, total nitrogen, mineral phosphorus, and dissolved oxygen in-stream monitoring data from gauge stations were used to calibrate and validate the Soil and Water Assessment Tool model for the period 1979–2009. A Sequential Uncertainty Fitting procedure was used to auto-calibrate parameter uncertainties and model evaluation. Monthly simulation during the validation period showed a positive model performance for streamflow with Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency and percent bias values of 0.7% and 18.7%, respectively. The simulation results at a watershed level indicate that the sediment load was 1.13 t ha−1 year−1, while for total nitrogen and total phosphorus, the simulated values were 4.8 and 1.18 kg ha−1 year−1, respectively. These results were consistent with the values of soil and nutrient losses observed in the Mediterranean area, although hot-spot areas with high nutrient loadings were identified. The calibrated model could be used to assess long-term impacts on water quality associated with the simulated land use scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agriculture in Global North cities is strongly promoted as a sustainable solution to achieve different goals, such as food production, quality of life, and well-being. Although several attempts have been made to evaluate urban agriculture production, few studies have investigated food production in a multitemporal geospatial way and considered per capita population needs, gender, and age strata consumption. This study presents a spatiotemporal quantification of urban agriculture in the city of Milan (Italy) for assessing food self-provisioning potential. We utilized high-resolution Google Earth images and ancillary data to create a detailed cadaster of urban agriculture for the years 2007 and 2014. Based on four scenarios of food production and statistical data on vegetables and cereals consumption, we estimated current total production and requirements for the city dwellers. Our results showed that the actual extension of vegetable gardens (98 ha) and arable land (2539 ha) in the best scenario could satisfy approximately 63,700 and 321,000 consumers of vegetables and cereal products, respectively. Overall, current urban agriculture production is not able to meet vegetables and cereal consumption for more than 1.3 million city residents. Scenario estimates suggest rethinking land use promoting horticultural production to achieve more sustainable food systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]