Abstract
Mediterranean areas are characterized by strong and complex relationships between land use dynamics and land degradation process. The latter will probably worsen in the coming years because of climatic changes that are likely to cause a reduction of the quantity and quality of land resources. Understanding the relationships between land use dynamics and land degradation could allow evaluating the potential risks affecting a given area, and may provide means to implement suitable management policies for sustainable development especially in rural areas. This chapter describes the development of a methodology for the assessment of four typologies of risk in a given area (e.g. a river basin): land desertification, soil erosion, water degradation and soil sealing. This methodology could be useful for regional managers during the policy making process. The methodology was designed to provide an estimate of the risks for the current state and that for the year 2020 under various land resources management scenarios. The methodology was applied at the Ofanto river basin (South Italy). The approach we followed is expert based and makes use of GIS tools in order to produce easy to understand results and maps. It seems to be useful whenever decision makers have to deal with scarce data relative to large areas, and when different stakeholders are involved in a participative process.
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Colonna, N., Lupia, F., Iannetta, M. (2010). Severe Environmental Constraints for Mediterranean Agriculture and New Options for Water and Soil Resources Management. In: Zdruli, P., Pagliai, M., Kapur, S., Faz Cano, A. (eds) Land Degradation and Desertification: Assessment, Mitigation and Remediation. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8657-0_36
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