Understanding the interactions nature/society for land use management in rural areas. Monitoring and managing land use methodology

Abstract

Today, the Social Sciences still face the absences of an appropriate conceptual framework which could make for the understanding of the complex interactions between society and the environment. In fact, the majority of studies tend to concentrate on the effect and impact of man’s actions on the environment, dedicating little attention to the consequences of those changes on human activity. The methodology proposed in this article for the monitoring and management of land use specifically aims to assume an integrated and systemic vision of the social system/biophysical system relationship. Thus, the study of the changes in land use aims at understanding the environmental changes and, further to identifying them, makes for understanding the motivations and strategies of Man’s interventions in the environment and his reactions in the light of global change.