BIOCULTURAL ISLANDSCAPE AND THE HUMAN SCALE OF ECOLOGY

The link between nature and culture is rooted in landscape and seascape with high ecological and cultural value, and is essential to understand islandscape character. The nature-culture interface provides tools for islandscape conservation and development, and helps to advance research in human ecology, as demonstrated by the IALE Working Group on Biocultural Landscape (Pungetti, 2013) and by the ESLAND Project on European Culture expressed in Island Landscapes (Pungetti, 2017). Both initiatives have been carried out to examine the complex interaction between people and their environment, and have laid down the foundations for further research on biocultural islandscape.
This paper presents the results of latest research on the biocultural islandscape of Europe, including both large and small islands. The different islandscapes have been analysed and evaluated with transdisciplinary and cross-cultural approaches. Biocultural landscapes are ancient cultural landscapes with high natural and cultural values (Agnoletti and Rotherham, 2015). The same applies for European islandscapes, which embrace relevant environmental, economic and social values, yet different for each island. Although they share insularity, with significant identity, endemism and heritage, European islands are diversified in their ecological and cultural features.
From the analysis of the isladscapes considered, it emerged that biocultural diversity is often higher inland and lower along the coast, with exceptions for marine protected areas and particular seascapes where biocultural diversity is high, while in the buffers between sea and mountains it has been reasonably maintained. A prevalent rural character has been outlined inland, sometimes with high natural and ecological values, other times with agricultural and pastoral activities often linked to traditional ecological knowledge. However, the human impact has prevailed along the coast, with stronger land and resources consumption for agriculture, urbanisation and tourism, and consequent demand for careful seascape planning and management.
In several cases European islandscapes have showed a unique multifunctional character due to their agroforestry systems or a strong link between ecosytems and cultural systems. They generally retain high biocultural diversity, which is still influenced by the traditional practices and the culture of local population. These biocultural islandscapes are connected to people by multiple interactions, forming complex biocultural systems full of functions, services and values, which require an appropriate multifaceted planning and a dynamic conservation management.