《Abandonment of agricultural land- an overview of drivers》.pdf

CAB Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Science, Nutrition and Natural Resources 2007 2, No. 057 Review Abandonment of agricultural land: an overview of drivers and consequences Jose M. Rey Benayas*, Ana Martins, Jose M. Nicolau and Jennifer J. Schulz´ ´ ´ ´ ´ Address: Departmento de Ecologıa, Edificio de Ciencias, Universidad de Alcala, 28871 Alcala de Henares, Spain. *Correspondence: Jose M. Rey Benayas. Email: josem.rey@uah.es´ Received: 28 February 2007 Accepted: 5 July 2007 doi: 10.1079/PAVSNN The electronic version of this article is the definitive one. It is located here: /cabreviews g CABI Publishing 2007 (Online ISSN 1749-8848) Abstract Agricultural activities and their complex effects on nature conservation, and the services that ecosystems deliver to humans are controversial. We present an overview of land abandonment, its driving forces and its consequences for landscape, biodiversity and humans. A descriptive meta- analysis of independently published studies highlighted the fact that the abandonment of agri- cultural land is a phenomenon mostly driven by socio-economic factors such as immigration into areas where new economic opportunities are offered to rural people. Ecological drivers such as elevation and land mismanagement leading to soil erosion are of secondary importance. We identified the major problems related to abandonment of agricultural land and quantified their relative importance. In order of decreasing importance, they were biodiversity loss, increase of fire frequency and intensity, soil erosion and desertification, loss of cultural and/or aesthetic values, reduction of land