Environmental Sustainability and Global Change: Forests, Agriculture, and Soils vis à vis Human Disturbance offers an integrated approach to the socio-environmental dynamics of the ecological-economic nexus characteristic of Mediterranean landscapes. Evidencing the role of policies targeting sustainable development goals in Southern Europe, case studies from Italy, Spain, and Greece confirm the need of place-specific approaches to socio-ecological complexity and the partial effectiveness of generalized, top-down measures. Authored by leading scholars in Southern Europe – with eminent contributions from Eastern Europe – the book identifies the intrinsic peculiarity of the environmental-economic nexus characteristic of the Northern Mediterranean basin, along with important regional differences.

Stimulating a spatial planning for rural areas, the book proposes a dynamic image of Mediterranean rural landscapes, providing novel interpretations, conceptual definitions, and operational tools designed to reduce ecological fragility and economic vulnerability.

• Offers a holistic, multidisciplinary approach to ecological and economic issues, including studies spanning agronomy, demography, ecology, and economics
• Contains unique case studies from comparative cases and quali-quantitative studies with extensive geographical coverage
• Includes updated ecological issues of complex rural systems in the Mediterranean region and provides specialized strategies for sustainable development in these less studied areas