Assessing the degree of consensus regarding key stakeholders’ interests to repurpose abandoned lands south of Ġnejna Bay, Mgarr

Abstract

The phenomenon of Agricultural Land Abandonment (ALA) is defined as the cessation of agricultural activities as well as land management in agricultural lands. ALA has been occurring since the 1950s at a global scale, in which rural areas are affected the most by both social and environmental impacts. Moreover, this phenomenon is currently highly relevant within the European context, given the presence of EU agricultural lands being at high potential risk of abandonment. The fate of land abandonment is not easily resolved, seeing that various nuances need to be considered, that is, the local circumstances of a particular site, such as the pre-existing state of a land coupled with physical and social factors that actively condition the state of a land. In light of these issues, this study’s aim is to explore the variety of perspectives of key stakeholder figures that possess either interest and/or legislative influence regarding agricultural land abandonment repurposing in the Maltese Islands with special consideration of this project’s study site located in Ġnejna Bay, Mġarr. A stakeholder analysis was conducted in order to classify key actors according to their level of influence and interest in repurposing abandoned farmlands. Along with the stakeholder analysis, semi-structured interviews were carried out for the individual stakeholders in order to further explore the following themes from the obtained responses: level of interest, level of impact/influence, landscape components that are prioritised by the stakeholder and the willingness to commit to potential future projects to repurpose the land. The results of this study indicate that there is a general supportive sentiment by stakeholders towards the repurposing of the site featured in this project, either in order to preserve the Maltese countryside or to resume its original purpose, i.e. agricultural activities. However, several identified variables hinder repurposing plans to take place including: ownership status and inheritance laws, land fragmentation and values as well as perceptions held by groups regarding ALA and impacts deriving from it.