Monitoring Regional Land Use and Land Cover Changes in Support of an Environmentally Sound Resource Management

The worldwide trend of conversion of forested and wild areas into agricultural and urbanised land under the pressure of increasing population affects the environment in many ways: increases pollution, decreases biodiversity and degrades ecosystems in such a way that they are no longer able to provide their services to humans and other species (e.g. soil formation, photosynthesis, nutrient and water cycling). Scientists and governments are increasingly aware of the negative trends: the urgent need for monitoring and mitigating the negative effects of land use changes requires efforts of environmental protection without decreasing the local carrying capacity for the production of basic resources and services to human society. Such efforts cannot be randomly displayed: it is important to be able to analyse and monitor land use changes, understand the drivers and the impacts, identify the most valuable areas in order to preserve a regional environmental quality. If the integrity of wildlife (forests, water bodies, soil, biodiversity) is not preserved, then, due to urbanisation, agriculturalisation and transport infrastructure implementation, a fragmentation of landscape is likely to occur with the consequent loss of its functionality in providing ecosystem services. This work investigates recent urbanisation processes in the Campania Region and designs maps of impervious surfaces, in order to provide a way to assess the environmental worth and quality of lands. Newly urbanised areas between 1990 and 2006 are about 5200 ha, of which 173 ha have been converted from natural to urban and 5028 ha from agricultural to urban, totally accounting for 0.4 % of the regional area. This recent urbanisation adds to the already urbanised 105,000 ha of the regional area, one third of which is concentrated in the Province of Napoli (about 38,000 ha). Reversing this trend, by means of appropriate environmental planning and resource management, would help to reduce environmental problems associated with landscape overbuilding, loss of natural capital and diminished environmental services.