ABSTRACT
A well-documented case comes from Sardinia, where it has been shown that the impacts of agro-pastoral activities on land degradation can be direct (animal hoof pressure) and indirect (bad land-use practices associated with grazing, such as burning to create artificial pastures on unsuitable areas). Sardinia has 3.3 million sheep, a remarkable increase in the last thirty years, favoured mainly by the rise in sheep milk prices in the 1970s and 1980s. The regional government of Sardinia adopted policies to increase forage production through price support. This resulted in a severe impact on the environment, wide areas of Mediterranean maquis were cleared to create artificial pastures by using fire, deep mechanical tillage on slopes that are too steep and seeding forage. The Desertification Research group of the University of Sassari carried out a wide range of detailed investigations in municipalities on the eastern side of the island using GIS, modelling and in-depth field studies (Enne, 1999). They discussed with the farmers and breeders what actions could and should be taken. From this they identified areas that could be suitable and eligible for mitigation actions. The results showed that, in the period 1955-1996, there were marked changes in land use in some parishes in eastern Sardinia that are the result of a general marked intensification of anthropogenic activities in the area. The 1996 pattern reflects a shift from extensive to semi-extensive production systems. Whereas the coastal areas experienced more tourist development, the hilly areas experienced a marked intensification of agro-pastoral systems. Between 1955 and 1996, there was a large increase in pasture lands (26 per cent), a considerable reduction in woodlands (36 per cent), a marked expansion of agricultural areas (20 per cent) and a remarkable increase in urban areas (61 per cent). Nearly all these changes reflect the increase in agro-pastoral activities and the policy efforts to increase forage. These increases have occurred despite a small reduction in arable lands.
