National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano Socio-Ecological System (SES)

Editor's note 11Feb13: Source D131-3.2

Location and changing land use

The Alento River Basin is located within the protected National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano, a Unesco World Heritage site. The Park, established in 1991, is located in central-southern Italy, covers 181,041 hectares and is characterized by mountains, valleys and coasts.The largest areas of crops correspond to the areas where farmland is irrigated. The areas specialised in permanent crop production are largely used for olive trees. Urban areas are concentrated along the coastline.

Agricultural policies to increase agricultural production and efficiency over the last 50 years created mechanization and use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. This, along with the sustained rural exodus from poorly serviced inland areas, has had a profound effect on land-use in the area. Persistent land use is diffused over the whole territory. Areas that have seen greater intensification in land use are those that have received irrigation systems or are farmed using machinery able to farm steeply sloping land.

The National Park is an evolving landscape that has been shaped and transformed over the years. The principal threats to the area are land abandonment, soil erosion, landslides and unsustainable pressure on the coastlines. The Park’s peculiar lithology, geomorphology and climate make this territory a complex and unique set of environmental. The area is home to four lithological units, determining an equivalent number of landscapes and a rich and complex hydrographic network. Alongside the principal watercourses there is an interesting mosaic of hygrophilous herbaceous, shrub and woody vegetation.

Population and infrastructure

The 95 municipalities within the National Park of Cilento and Valle di Diano account for 60% of the total number of municipalities in the Province of Salerno. However, the total population of the Park represents just one quarter of that of the Province of Salerno as a whole. Population figures show a steady trend in the last forty years, with a largely unchanged populationand population density is substantially unvaried. The number of residents completing secondary and higher education has increased tenfold in the last 50 years leading to increased out migration and an impoverishment of social capital.  

90% of the tourism infrastructure is located along the coastline while inland areas are poorly equipped for tourism. The Park shows a diffused presence of non-primary services, whilst primary services tend to be concentrated in one area. The total added value of the study area reveals a fragile internal economy. Agricultural accounts for 7% of total added value while the service industry represents over 75% of the total economy of the area.

Changes to land use inland, have naturally affected the socio-demographic make-up of the Park: population is ageing and there is a decrease in agricultural workers. All the socio-demographic indicators considered show a high variability in values, pointing out significant differences within the territory. The elderly rate analysis shows increasing values moving from the coast to inland areas. The peripheral area of the Park zones shows higher levels of such index, up to more than 50% and the weight of agricultural workers shows a non- homogeneous distribution over the territory.

Main LEDD issues in the National Park of Cilento and Vallo di Diano SES The Park’s issues originate from the territory’s geomorphology and are exacerbated by modifications to the water network by human activities. Problems also derive from the trend of the agricultural activities in the last 50 years, which have increasingly moved towards crop intensification and specialization while inland areas are experiencing significant phenomena of land abandonment. Finally there are socio-demographic issues.