IMPACT OF HUMAN ACTIVITIES ON MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPES IN WESTERN CRETE

Crete has a very long history of human intervention in the natural environment which has resulted in physical and cultural diversity exemplified by a large variety of landscapes; all this diversity, however, has been threatened in the last few decades. To identify and investigate the effects of the economic development applied over the last years, statistical data on forests, rangelands, livestock, agricultural lands and human population have been collected from the village communities and the towns included in the study area and analysed. Evolution of the population indicates a 47% and a 36% decrease in the number of inhabitants in the mountainous and hilly communities, respectively, as opposed to an 8.7% increase in the plain communities from 1951 to 1991. This depopulation of the mountainous area has led to the abandonment of the traditional land uses in the uplands at the same time as the intensification of agriculture in the lowlands, which has involved the development of tree monocultures, use of artificial fertilizers, irrigation and spraying over large areas (18.8% of the total ama is cultivated land). On the other hand 1.75% of the area is residential, with massive commercial tourist development leading to all kinds of intrusive and discordant buildings. Forestry has limited importance as an economic activity, even though land classified as forest occupies 20.9% of the whole area. Livestock grazing is a dominant activity on all wildlands (57.6% are classified as rangelands) including forest. There was a 71% increase in the number of livestock from 1981 to 1991 giving a 50% increase in the stocking rate (animals ha-1 year-1). Overstocking, coupled with free and uncontrolled grazing as well as with frequent pastoral wildfires, has resulted in severe degradation.