A GIS-based index to identify critical hotspots of agricultural plastic pressure in vulnerable landscapes.

The intensification of plasticulture may generate substantial quantities of agricultural plastic waste (APW), posing increasing risks to ecological integrity and landscape quality, especially in close proximity to protected sites or to areas subjected to mass summer tourism. This study proposes the Landscape Vulnerability to Agricultural Plastic Index (LVAPI), a GIS-based composite index combining the Agricultural Plastic Pollution Risk Index (APPRI) with a Landscape Sensitivity Index (LSI), to map critical hotspots of plastic pressure across an Italian Southern region (i.e., Basilicata). APPRI was computed by integrating plastic waste indices per crop type with relative risk indices, reflecting the micro- and nanoplastic (MNP) generation potential associated with each plastic application. LSI integrates three equally weighted sensitivity components: slope-based soil sensitivity, water sensitivity based on proximity to the regional hydrographic network, and ecological sensitivity based on proximity to Natura2000 protected sites. Applied at 10 m spatial resolution across 435,134 ha of agricultural land, LVAPI identified high-vulnerability hotspots covering 18,716 ha (4.30%), concentrated in some regional areas characterized by intensive agricultural production, ecologically vulnerable landscapes, intensive summer tourism, or close to drinking water watershed. As a proxy-based screening tool, LVAPI supports spatial prioritization of protection measures, rather than predicting field-scale microand nanoplastics concentrations.