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Sustainability and Resilience of Rural Socio-Ecological Systems
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Sustainability and Resilience of Rural Socio-Ecological Systems

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability in Geographic Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2021) | Viewed by 13515

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Rosanna Salvia

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mathematics, Informatics and Economics, University of Basilicata, 85100 Potenza, PZ, Italy
Interests: development; sustainability; socio-ecological resilience
Prof. Giovanni Quaranta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento Dimie, University of Basilicata, 85100 Potenza PZ, Italy
Interests: climate change and agriculture; sustainability; soil and water conservation; sustainable agriculture; environmental management; natural resource management; rural policies
Prof. Dr. Giuseppe Marotta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Law, Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods, University of Sannio, 82100 Benevento, Italy
Interests: agrifood systems; innovation; sustainability; corporate social responsibility; value chains
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce a Special Issue of Sustainability on “Sustainability and resilience of rural socio-ecological systems”. Globally, rural areas are, and sometimes have been for many decades, experiencing profound structural changes. These changes have led to the intensification of agricultural production in some areas, whilst others have experienced an exacerbation of marginalization and abandonment processes. Overall, the characteristics of a rural socio-ecological system together with human agency have played key roles in determining the socio-economic and environmental performance of rural areas and their resilience. Human agency includes the definition and implementation of policies that at different times and spatial scales have identified and shaped development trajectories.

Resilience is about people and nature interacting as interdependent systems. Therefore, understanding resilience is not about understanding any one aspect of a system; it is about understanding the whole system and how changes in the balance between one set of factors impacts on others. Resilience describes the ability of a system to absorb impacts and/or disturbances and re-organize itself to function fully again. Significantly, resilience does not necessarily imply a return to the pre-existing state; it also refers to an ability to respond to opportunities that arise as a result of change.

The idea of management for resilience implies that a system can be manipulated and influenced to change to a more desirable resilient state, or prevented from changing to a less desirable or more vulnerable state.

For this Special Issue, we welcome conceptual and empirical studies that identify and analyze both concrete actions to promote sustainable and resilient rural development and factors affecting and shaping resilience responses. Crucially they should address issues of a more equitable distribution of wealth among value chain actors and territories and the implications of this on demographic impoverishment of rural areas and land abandonment/intensification. The papers must show originality and make a significant contribution to the scope of the Special Issue.

Dr. Rosanna Salvia
Prof. Giovanni Quaranta
Prof. Giuseppe Marotta
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • rural resilience
  • rural depopulation
  • rural change
  • land abandonment
  • agricultural intensification
  • development in rural territories
  • rural policies

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 17032 KiB  
Article
Demographic Resilience in the Rural Area of Romania. A Statistical-Territorial Approach of the Last Hundred Years
by Ionel Muntele, Marinela Istrate, Raluca Ioana Horea-Șerban and Alexandru Banica
Sustainability 2021, 13(19), 10902; https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910902 - 30 Sep 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3014
Abstract
The deep demographic crisis that Romania has been going through, like most Eastern European states, requires complex analyses. The present study aims at analyzing the numerical evolution of the rural population of Romania, extended for more than 100 years (1912–2020), on the basis [...] Read more.
The deep demographic crisis that Romania has been going through, like most Eastern European states, requires complex analyses. The present study aims at analyzing the numerical evolution of the rural population of Romania, extended for more than 100 years (1912–2020), on the basis of which a multivariate analysis was subsequently performed. The manifestation of specific patterns of territorial evolution and the identification of the incidence of some physical–geographical and socio-economic factors are investigated by means of the dynamics of certain distinct processes, such as rural depopulation or ability to adapt to various transitions. The identification of the fragile and dynamic areas allows discussions on the need for public policies better oriented towards mending excesses, illustrated by the persistence of some gaps, in terms of access to basic services. At the same time, the identification of trends towards a shrinking population system, with an increasingly evident concentration of the population in peri-urban areas or along major transport routes, calls for specific policies geared more towards environmental management in depopulated and depopulating areas, or towards creating the conditions for sustainable spatial planning in high-density areas. For the time being, the disadvantaged areas are rather ignored, while the extension of metropolitan areas is rather chaotic and poorly regulated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Resilience of Rural Socio-Ecological Systems)
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23 pages, 864 KiB  
Article
Assessing Young Consumers’ Responses to Sustainable Labels: Insights from a Factorial Experiment in Italy
by Carla Rossi and Francesca Rivetti
Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 10115; https://doi.org/10.3390/su122310115 - 3 Dec 2020
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4388
Abstract
This study provides insights into young consumers’ responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on signaling theory, the article studies how third-party labels (TPLs) act and interact with company-level claims, trying to better understand their impact on young consumers’ perceptions and willingness to buy (pay [...] Read more.
This study provides insights into young consumers’ responses to sustainable labels. Drawing on signaling theory, the article studies how third-party labels (TPLs) act and interact with company-level claims, trying to better understand their impact on young consumers’ perceptions and willingness to buy (pay for) a chocolate bar. A between-subjects factorial experiment—conducted by manipulating third-party sustainable labels (presence/absence of the labels) and self-declared claims (absence of the claim, formal claim, and friendly claim)—was used to test: (a) the effect of TPLs and self-declared claims on consumers’ perceptions, purchase intention, and willingness to pay, (b) whether this effect was mediated through the perceived credibility of the sustainability message, and (c) what kind of tone-of-voice adopted in the company’s claim was more effective. Data were collected via an online survey among a sample of 315 consumers (age range: 18–39 years) in South Italy. We found that third-party labels, “alone” were not effective in influencing consumers’ perceptions and willingness to buy/pay, while a self-declared claim, especially if characterized by a formal tone of voice, had a much more relevant impact. The combination of TPLs and self-declaration affected most consumers’ willingness to pay when the copy claim was informal. The perceived credibility of the sustainability message mediated the relationships between self-declared claims and the majority of the dependent variables, while, with reference to the relationship between TPLs and dependent variables, it did not act as a mediator. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Resilience of Rural Socio-Ecological Systems)
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19 pages, 2311 KiB  
Article
(In)Sustainability of the Territory of Chapada Do Apodi-Rn (Brazil): The Expansion of Agribusiness versus the Impacts of Traditional Farmers and Local Rural Communities
by Jorge Luís de Oliveira Pinto Filho, Alana Ticiane Alves do Rêgo, Anderson Rodrigo da Silva Lunes and Lucio Cunha
Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 9173; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219173 - 4 Nov 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2584
Abstract
The objective of this study is to investigate the conditions of family agriculture and the respective environmental impacts of agribusiness. The research methodology is grounded on a theoretical survey of study descriptions of the area, a characterization of rural communities and local population [...] Read more.
The objective of this study is to investigate the conditions of family agriculture and the respective environmental impacts of agribusiness. The research methodology is grounded on a theoretical survey of study descriptions of the area, a characterization of rural communities and local population through interviews, an identification of medium and large agricultural enterprises through documentary research on environmental licensing processes, and determination of the environmental impacts of agribusiness via an interaction matrix. Based on the data generated, it was found that the majority of the population has an incomplete elementary education; is involved in agricultural activity, livestock farming, and honey production, which provide a family income of up to one minimum wage; and is located in rural communities with environmental sanitation restrictions. Moreover, it was found that irrigated agriculture has positive impacts, such as the generation of employment and income. It was also evidenced that this activity causes adverse socioeconomic impacts and adverse impacts on the traditional activities of local rural communities through plant removal, water scarcity, and pesticide use. Thus, to mitigate the problems, it is necessary to apply the principles of Brazilian Environmental Law as correlated with the instruments of the National Environment Policy through environmental management guidelines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Resilience of Rural Socio-Ecological Systems)
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20 pages, 1089 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Agricultural Intensification in Four Tanzanian Villages—A View from the Ground and the Sky
by Agnes Andersson Djurfeldt, Ola Hall, Aida Isinika, Elibariki Msuya and Genesis Tambang Yengoh
Sustainability 2020, 12(20), 8304; https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208304 - 9 Oct 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2638
Abstract
Agricultural intensification based on smallholders is among many economists viewed as a necessary developmental path to ensure food security and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. Increasingly, a one-sided focus on raising productivity in cereals has been questioned on environmental grounds, with the concept [...] Read more.
Agricultural intensification based on smallholders is among many economists viewed as a necessary developmental path to ensure food security and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. Increasingly, a one-sided focus on raising productivity in cereals has been questioned on environmental grounds, with the concept of sustainable agricultural intensification (SAI) emerging from the natural sciences as a way of advancing environmental and social needs simultaneously. SAI approaches have, however, been criticized for being both conceptually and methodologically vague. This study combines socioeconomic survey data with remotely sensed land productivity data and qualitative data from four villages in Tanzania. By triangulating and comparing data collected through ground level surveys and ground-truthing with remote sensing data, we find that this combination of methods is capable of resolving some of the theoretical and methodological vagueness found in SAI approaches. The results show the problems of relying on only one type of data when studying sustainable agricultural intensification and indicate the poor environmental outcomes of cereal monocropping, even when social outcomes may be forthcoming. We identify land use practices that can be considered both socially and environmentally sustainable. Theoretically, we contribute to a further problematization of the SAI concept. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Resilience of Rural Socio-Ecological Systems)
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