Agriculture, Landscape, Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity: New Challenges for Sustainable Development

Dear Colleagues,

The future of agriculture and rural areas, and its role in sustainable development, is a topic of ongoing social, political, and scientific debate. Greater public concern with the importance of avoiding environmental problems related with farming activities, and the need for maintaining rural communities have probably been the main driving forces in this matter. Therefore, agriculture is, not only considered a provider of food and fibers, but there is also a growing social concern regarding its environmental, social, and territorial dimensions. Rural area multifunctionality arises as a future path for farming systems with an emphasis on the production of appropriate market goods and non-market or public goods and ecosystem services that are increasingly demanded by the public. Among the public goods provided by farming systems, we should consider how they have shaped the landscape. Indeed, the advance of the agricultural frontier has replaced a wide variety of natural ecosystems and shaped diverse agricultural landscapes in rural spaces. Replacements of natural systems using farming systems and the configuration of heterogeneous agricultural landscapes were modifying the function, and consequently the structure of agroecosystems worldwide, and therefore sustainable provision for society, in terms of quantity and quality, of all these goods and services. This situation has created tensions between the conservation of natural ecosystems, biodiversity, food production, human well-being and economic profitability. In this context, a new analytical framework is needed for designing agricultural, environmental, and rural development policies to promote sustainability and to maximize social welfare. For this Special Issue, we welcome conceptual and empirical studies to provide possible solutions that minimize the adverse effects of this conflicting situation, and, eventually, to mitigate the potential effects of climate change. Specifically, we welcome papers focused on, or dealing with, the topics listed in the keywords.

Prof. Dr. Alejandro Rescia
Dr. Samir Sayadi
Guest Editors

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