LANDSCAPE INDICATORS TO EVALUATE THE AGROECOSYSTEMS SUSTAINABILITY: A CASE STUDY IN GREECE.

Indicators and indexes are useful tools for experts and decision makers who deal with environmental issues. This research seeks to identify and provide specific agro-environmental information, in the form of indicators (metrics), in order to assess the effects of human activities on the landscape and the degree of sustainability of the ecosystems. Two Hellenic regions were analyzed in order to provide an overview of sustainability at landscape hierarchical level: the first one in northern Greece (Imathia) and the second one in central-northern (Larissa). Results show that in Imathia the land cover is more diversified than in Larissa (i.e., in Larissa the 93% of the area is dedicated to herbaceous crop cultivation); therefore, in Larissa ecological structures such as woodlands are practically absent. Land use homologation represents a driving force working to increase the amount of agricultural outcomes but the environmental costs are frequently underestimated or not considered. In order to pursue the goal of sustainable development it is necessary to improve the landscape management in Greece and under this perspective, agriculture can play an important role, also in view of the arrival of the new European Common Agricultural Policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]