The landscape approach as support to the livestock manure management. The buffalo herds case-study in Sele plain, Campania region

The buffalo breeding and mozzarella cheese production are crucial for the economic asset of Campania region (Southern Italy). The recent awareness about the meaningful environmental impacts of livestock sector and related manure management, together with the law regulations and new limitations imposed at the EU and national level, require the control and reduction of ammonia emissions as well as other gases such as VOCs in the primary sector. For this purpose, this paper proposes a framework of tools and activities/processes, typical of the landscape/land-use planning approaches, which could be strategic for the livestock manure management chain. Algorithm’s development, GIS environment parameters definition, probabilistic multi-criteria approach and spatial modelling methods, were used as support for the rural land governance. The work, in a delicate phase of adaptation of the livestock sector, according to the EU Green Deal (2020) and the regional Council Decree (2017) calls, aims to raise the awareness of policy makers, administrators and operators, to the environmental sustainability of the livestock sector. The aim is to promote good agricultural practices, which can protect the environmental system and, furthermore, become an additional economic resource. The results are remarkably: on the one hand, the suitable areas for the livestock manure treatment plants have been identified; on the other hand, suitable areas for manure spreading were also identified and evaluated. The framework allows approaching the manure management issue from the point of view of sustainability and mitigation of the environmental impacts of, basing not only on the production perspective but also considering socio-economic and environmental criteria.