The History of Environmental Resource Management in Europe by Di Tullio, Matteo; Stagno, Anna Maria; Fagnani, Martino Lorenzo;

Short description:

This book explores practices implemented to promote the sustainable use of environmental resources from the 16th to early 21st Century across Europe. It appeals to students and scholars of history and archaeology, as well as those in research fields related to anthropology, sociology, environmental and agricultural sciences, and economics.

Long description:

Bringing together a broad range of case studies from across Europe, this book explores practices implemented to promote the sustainable use of environmental resources from the 16th century until the turn of the 21st century.

How and with what results environmental resources were managed in the past is one of the main topics of debate in rural and environmental history and archaeology. This book explores the dialogue between these fields, drawing upon new studies and comparisons between ‘grammars’, concepts, and research practices from both fields to promote an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the environment. The book provides a comprehensive overview and comparison of the different practices of environmental resources management in Europe from the early modern period to contemporaneity, shedding light on a range of sustainability issues including land management, water supply, farming systems, and forestry. The interdisciplinary contributions in this volume provide original insight based on an analysis of written and material sources examining a range of different regions, including northern Italy, Slovenia, northern Spain, southern Spain, south-western France, and northern Romania.

This book will be of interest to students and scholars of history and archaeology, as well as to those in research fields related to anthropology, sociology, environmental and agricultural sciences, and economics.

Table of Contents:

1. Reconstructing the development of sustainability practices: a historical–environmental approach 2. Vernacular practices of water and tree management in the waterless and forestless Karst: a long-run perspective (16th–19th centuries) 3. Widespread woodlands, sustainability, and biodiversity in early modern Lombardy 4. Water management in pre-industrial economies: the Lombardy and Friuli cases compared and reconsidered (18th–20th centuries) 5. Jurisdictional conflicts as a form of sharing practices: water and canals between Cerdagne and Sierra Nevada (18th–21st centuries) 6. From farm to fork: fighting grain wastage in pre-industrial times (Northern Italy: 16th–19th centuries) 7. Evil plants and perilous waters: science and technology in the Po Valley (18th and 19th centuries) 8. Alder meadows in northern Romania, the last alnocoltura of Europe 9. The sustainability of past agro-silvo-pastoral systems: commons and sharing practices (South European mountain 18th–21st centuries)