Multiple-scale landscape ecological analysis in a rural Mediterranean region

An appraisal of the implementation of an EU regulation encouraging afforestation on farmland was carried out and a cross-space and -time scales landscape ecological analysis, useful for future design/implementation of rural policy measures in Mediterranean landscapes, was tested in southern Apulia (Italy). The work aims to contribute to overcoming the current lack of integration between planning levels. The results show that for the landscape ecological integration of each sector of planning, in a given landscape, an appropriate combination of scale levels is needed and that only the simultaneous use of a double cognitive procedure (scaling down/up) provides the means for general policies not to contradict the peculiarities of the local scale and vice versa. The results were verified in the study area for the case of afforestation.