Terraced Landscapes as Models of Ecological Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

One of man’s oldest but also most efficient adaptations to harsh living conditions has been the terracing of steep mountain slopes in various climate areas on all continents. Creating terraced landscapes has made large sloping areas productive and has conserved soil, water, and ecosystems. Awareness of terraced landscapes is growing considerably at the global, European, and national levels. Research, academic studies (e.g., World Terraced Landscapes: History, Environment, Quality of Life (Varotto, Bonardi, Tarolli (2019)), civil initiatives (e.g., International Terraced Landscapes Alliance (ITLA)), important recognitions (e.g., terraced landscapes listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites), and various documents about terraced landscapes have intensified in recent decades. Terraced landscapes worldwide have been exemplary experimentation sites for the domestication of food crops all over the world.

Ecological sustainability has been embedded in the terraced landscape system since the beginning: Erosion was prevented, land use diversified, biodiversity enriched, and water used or diverted.

The planetary boundaries (PB) approach seeks to define an evolving understanding of Earth system functioning and resilience (Steffen et al., 2015). The Special Issue of the journal Land aims to extend the previous findings of the PB perspective and focus primarily on two additional premises: that terraced landscapes are models of ecological sustainability and that actors involved in terraced landscapes play a supporting and crucial role in this process, either as residents or builders of terraced areas. We want to emphasize the protagonist role of the local actors and their knowledge heritage in the definition of ecological sustainability as well as the design of the models for future action in terraced landscapes looking from the perspective of mountains vs. the perspective of the plains.

Original research articles and reviews are welcome in this Special Issue. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following: All aspects of land use and land cover change in terraced landscapes; Terraced land-related issues in climate, ecology, environmental, and earth sciences; Land management, including the application of ecosystem service approaches to terraced landscapes; Livelihoods, food security, and supply chains related to terraced land issues; Soil-sediment-water systems of terraced areas; Planning, conservation, and management of terraced landscapes; Archaeology of terraced landscapes; Urban contexts and urban-rural interactions of terraced landscapes; and Interactions between terraced lands and climate.

We are pleased to invite you to submit research that address these issues and we look forward to receiving your contributions.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Land.

Prof. Lucija Ažman Momirski
Dr. Timmi Tillmann
Prof. Raimund Rodewald
Guest Editors

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