RhECAST (Rural Landscape Heritage and Carbon Sequestration) addresses the growing need to reconcile climate change mitigation with the preservation of Europe’s cultural landscapes. Across many European regions, traditional agroforestry systems and historical agricultural landscapes have been progressively abandoned or simplified during the twentieth century due to agricultural intensification and socio-economic transformation. While these landscapes represent an important component of Europe’s cultural heritage, they also embody long-term land management practices that may contribute to climate mitigation through carbon sequestration, soil conservation and sustainable land use. However, the environmental and socio-economic value of these historical land-use systems remains poorly quantified, limiting their integration into contemporary environmental and agricultural policy frameworks.
The project aims to investigate how historical rural landscapes, particularly traditional agroforestry systems, have influenced carbon dynamics and land-use sustainability over the long term. By combining landscape archaeology, geoarchaeology, environmental modelling and socio-economic analysis, RhECAST seeks to reconstruct past land-use patterns and evaluate their potential contribution to carbon sequestration and climate mitigation strategies. The project integrates approaches from the natural sciences with methods from the social sciences and humanities, including historical landscape analysis and cultural heritage studies, in order to better understand the interactions between human land-use practices and environmental processes.
The research focuses on modelling carbon emissions and sequestration associated with historical agricultural landscapes and exploring how these insights can inform future land management and policy strategies. Advanced environmental and socio-economic modelling tools are used to assess the feasibility and potential impacts of reintroducing or adapting historical agroforestry practices within contemporary agricultural systems. In this way, the project contributes to ongoing international efforts to promote sustainable land management and climate resilience while safeguarding cultural landscape heritage.
By generating new interdisciplinary knowledge on the environmental and socio-economic benefits of historical land-use systems, RhECAST aims to support evidence-based decision-making for sustainable rural development and climate policy. The results of the project are expected to contribute to broader European and global discussions on climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation and sustainable agriculture, highlighting how insights from historical landscapes can inform innovative strategies for managing present and future environmental challenges.
