How rural Mediterranean landscapes depend on people for their survival
Across southern Europe, people are moving away from the countryside in search of better opportunities. Giovanni Quaranta and Rosanna Salvia explain how this rural depopulation accelerates desertification in countries including Cyprus, Italy, Portugal and Spain, and threatens community life, the environment and the economy.
In many parts of the world, desertification is a cause of depopulation. However, in many other regions, including Mediterranean Europe, depopulation itself can be a significant driver of desertification.
In such areas, it is not human pressures — such as deforestation and unsustainable farming — that accelerate degradation, but the absence of human stewardship itself. Compared to other global drivers of desertification, depopulation plays a particularly significant role in southern Europe, where it often interacts with climate change and poor land-use policies to worsen the problem.
For example, in Extremadura, one of Spain’s most depopulated regions, the decline of smallholder farming communities has had tangible impacts on the landscape. With fewer farmers tending the land, traditional practices, such as crop rotation, grazing management, and terracing, have largely disappeared.
This neglect renders the soil more vulnerable to erosion, reducing its ability to retain water and organic matter. As a result, the region is experiencing a slow but steady progression towards desertification, with barren fields and abandoned villages now dominating parts of the landscape (Papanastasis & Kaimi, 2016; European Commission, 2019).
The demographic profile has also shifted dramatically, with an ageing population left to maintain land that requires collective and sustained management—an increasingly unfeasible task.
A similar trajectory is visible in the interior regions of southern Italy. Here, the rural exodus has led to widespread abandonment of agricultural lands once celebrated for their olive groves, vineyards, and wheat fields. As traditional methods of irrigation and soil conservation are neglected, soil fertility diminishes, crop yields fall, and vulnerability to extreme weather increases.
The degraded landscape of Montagna Materana, Italy, one of the vulnerable regions where TERRASAFE is testing innovations to combat desertification.
The loss of agricultural viability undermines the economic resilience of these communities, perpetuating a feedback loop of abandonment and decline. Clear signs of desertification—degraded soils, diminishing vegetation cover, and falling groundwater levels—are emerging in areas historically central to the country’s agrarian identity (Claval, 2002; Venault, 2011).
The Greek islands, including Crete, offer another striking illustration. Once sustained by intricate networks of agricultural terraces supporting olives, grapes, and grains, many of these landscapes are now untended. The migration of younger residents to Athens or abroad has left entire villages deserted and terraces collapsing into disrepair. Without routine maintenance, the fragile soils of these arid regions are quickly eroded, leading to surface runoff, the loss of arable land, and a sharp decline in biodiversity (Claval, 2002). The socio-ecological systems that once thrived through a balance between human care and natural resilience are unravelling.
What unites these cases is not only ecological degradation but the socio-economic dynamics underlying it. Depopulation does not merely empty a place—it transforms its very capacity for regeneration. Traditional ecological knowledge is lost, community structures disintegrate, and both public and private investments wane. Over time, what begins as a demographic shift becomes a profound landscape transformation, with long-term implications for food security, cultural heritage, and climate resilience.
“Depopulation does not merely empty a place
—it transforms its very capacity for regeneration.”
Depopulation as a driver of desertification in Mediterranean rural areas
In the northern Mediterranean, particularly across regions of Spain, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, and other southern European countries, rural depopulation has emerged as a central force driving desertification. The phenomenon is particularly acute in remote and island regions, where declining populations are leaving behind centuries-old farming systems.
The exodus of people from rural areas, particularly younger generations to urban centres in search of better opportunities, has led to the abandonment of traditional land-use practices that were crucial in maintaining ecological balance. As these populations dwindle, landscapes once sustained by human labour and ecological knowledge begin to deteriorate, ushering in a dangerous cycle of degradation and economic decline (Quaranta et al., 2020; Lechner & Biondi, 2017).
How depopulation accelerates desertification
Abandonment of agricultural practices
Agriculture has historically served as the economic and cultural backbone of rural Mediterranean communities. However, as youth leave for cities or emigrate abroad, the rural workforce diminishes. This has led to the widespread abandonment of traditional farming techniques such as crop rotation, dryland farming, and terracing—practices well-adapted to arid and semi-arid conditions. In their absence, land is left fallow, leading to soil erosion, reduced organic content, and heightened exposure to desertification (Quaranta et al., 2020; Lechner & Biondi, 2017).
Neglect of land management
Long-standing land management traditions, including agroforestry, soil conservation, and landscape mosaics, are vanishing as rural depopulation intensifies. These systems once helped regulate ecological cycles, preserved biodiversity, and maintained the fertility of Mediterranean ecosystems. Their neglect leads to the spread of invasive species, reduction in soil stability, and declining land productivity—significant contributors to desertification (Neff, 2014).
Abandonment of water management infrastructure
Water scarcity has always been a pressing issue in the Mediterranean basin. Yet, ancient and community-managed irrigation systems—such as qanats, terraced catchments, and cisterns—are increasingly falling into disrepair due to depopulation. The disuse of these vital infrastructures not only hampers water access but exacerbates drought impacts and diminishes land recovery capacity, especially under conditions of climate stress (FAO, 2020).
Overgrazing and uncontrolled land use
In depopulated regions, the absence of active land management often leads to overgrazing by feral or unmanaged livestock. Without human regulation, these pressures damage topsoil, compact the land, and accelerate vegetation loss, further increasing the vulnerability of the land to wind and water erosion (Perrin & Bonanomi, 2018).
Socio-economic impacts of depopulation-driven desertification
Social Impacts
Loss of community and cultural identity
The abandonment of rural areas leads not only to ecological collapse but to the erosion of intangible cultural heritage. Traditional agricultural knowledge, rural customs, and seasonal practices risk being lost forever as the communities that sustained them disappear (Fernández-Montes & Rodríguez, 2015).
Decline in rural infrastructure
Depopulation often results in the closure of schools, hospitals, markets, and other essential services. Infrastructure decay contributes indirectly to environmental degradation, as derelict buildings, roads, and irrigation networks deteriorate, creating favourable conditions for erosion and invasive species (Papanastasis & Kaimi, 2016).
Ageing populations and social inertia
As younger people leave, rural areas are increasingly populated by the elderly, who often lack the physical capacity or financial resources to maintain land and infrastructure. This ageing demographic exacerbates depopulation and weakens the prospects for land rehabilitation (MIO-ECSDE, 2017).
Economic impacts
Decline in agricultural productivity and livelihoods
In Spain, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus, many local economies rely heavily on agriculture. When farmland is abandoned, output declines, and regions that once thrived on olive cultivation, viticulture, and cereal farming face collapse. This loss of productivity worsens rural poverty and further drives migration (Kallis & Giorgos, 2010).
Loss of landscape-based tourism
The aesthetic and ecological value of Mediterranean landscapes—once a key draw for eco- and agri-tourism—is being degraded. Terraced hills, stone farmhouses, and vineyards fall into neglect, reducing tourism appeal and causing economic losses in sectors meant to support rural revitalisation (EEA, 2017).
Rising costs of desertification
Desertification imposes significant economic burdens. The European Environment Agency estimates that desertification costs Spain alone over €1 billion annually. These figures are conservative, as they often fail to account fully for the combined impacts of depopulation and land abandonment (Ibarrola, 2009).
Conclusion
Depopulation in the Mediterranean is more than a demographic trend—it is a critical ecological and economic driver that demands urgent attention. Its impacts extend far beyond the loss of population, triggering land abandonment, cultural erosion, and accelerated desertification. In the northern Mediterranean, it is clear that depopulation is not simply a result of environmental degradation but a key force in creating and intensifying it.
The abandonment of traditional agricultural and land management practices has led to declining soil health, reduced agricultural productivity, and the collapse of socio-ecological systems that have sustained rural life for generations. Without intervention, these processes will continue to unravel the cultural and environmental fabric of Mediterranean rural territories, compromising their long-term resilience.
About the Authors
Professor Giovanni Quaranta and Professor Rosanna Salvia of the University of Basilicata (Italy) are evaluating policies in relation to desertification for TERRASAFE and managing two pilot areas for testing innovations in Italy: https://terrasafe.eu/italy-pilot/.
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Giovanni’s research focuses on sustainable natural resource management, with an emphasis on economic-environmental trade-offs in policy and land use. His work also explores EU-driven rural and local development strategies, contributing to evidence-based policymaking. |
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Rosanna is an agricultural economist whose work explores how land degradation affects rural livelihoods and how communities can lead sustainable development efforts. Her research focuses on the socio-economic drivers of land abandonment, the resilience of rural areas, and participatory approaches to territorial regeneration. |
References
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