On July the 7th, George participated in the workshop ‘Studying and comparing abandoned farmlands from the social sciences’ organised at Universite Montpellier by ANR Frichagri Project and Pole Foncier Montpellier.
Farmland abandonment, defined as a reduction or even a cessation of agricultural activities, associated with a shift in land cover due to vegetation succession, is a major contemporary global land process. Initially, farmland abandonment has been mostly considered through induced risks, especially i) natural/ecological hazards – i.e., biodiversity losses, soil erosion, desertification, fire risk, and/or landscape closure; ii) socio-economic and sovereign risks, i.e., land occupation/use by marginal social groups (e.g., migrants, fugitives), foreign invasion. Recently, abandoned farmlands have been increasingly perceived as land of opportunity, that is, ‘empty’, ‘waste’ or ‘vacant’ lands made available for new uses in the context of climate change and increased land pressure. By discussing and comparing different abandonment/re-use configurations, the participants analyzed this global contemporary phenomenon in relation to broader agrarian and socio-economic transformations – e.g., land rush and consolidation, planetary urbanization, or green grabbing.
George’s paper explored the complex ways in which land abandonment is framed and mobilized as an opportunity for advancing conservation visions in marginal mountain areas in Europe.
To learn more about the FRICHAGRI project, please check their webpage.
