Toward a spatially explicit analysis of land vulnerability to degradation: a country-level approach supporting policy strategies

0556871 - ÚVGZ 2023 RIV NL eng J - Journal Article
Egidi, G. - Bianchini, L. - Cividino, S. - Quaranta, G. - Salvia, R. - Cudlín, Pavel - Salvati, L.
Toward a spatially explicit analysis of land vulnerability to degradation: a country-level approach supporting policy strategies.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. Roč. 194, č. 5 (2022), č. článku 375. ISSN 0167-6369. E-ISSN 1573-2959
Institutional support: RVO:86652079
Keywords : environmental degradation * water-resources * time-series * desertification * sensitivity * landscape * expansion * patterns * contexts * quality * Desertification risk * Critical area * Land classification * Indicators * National action plan * Mediterranean basin
OECD category: Environmental sciences (social aspects to be 5.7)
Impact factor: 3, year: 2022
Method of publishing: Open access
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10661-022-10012-z

Vulnerability to land degradation in Mediterranean Europe increased substantially in the last decades because of the latent interplay of climate and land-use change, progressive soil deterioration, and rising human pressure. The present study provides a quantitative evaluation of the intrinsic change over time in the level of vulnerability to land degradation over a representative Mediterranean area (Italy) using a normative indicator, the percentage of land classified as 'critical' in total area. This indicator derives from a spatially explicit elaboration of the ESA (Environmental Sensitive Area) Index (ESAI), a standard methodology of land classification considering different levels of vulnerability to degradation at a particularly refined spatial scale (1 km(2)). This indicator was calculated over a relatively long time interval (1960-2010) and aggregated at the geographical scale of administrative regions in Italy, a relevant domain in the implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP) to combat desertification and the adoption of individual Regional Action Plans (RAP). A significant but spatially heterogeneous increase in 'critical' land was observed in Italy, leading to distinctive dynamics in northern/central regions and southern regions. Climate aridity and anthropogenic pressure leveraged the sudden vulnerability in some marginal land of Northern Italy a region classified as unexposed to desertification risk paralleling the levels observed in some districts of Southern Italy, an 'affected' region to desertification risk. These results suggest a re-thinking of mitigation policies proposed in the Italian NAP and a redesign of the RAPs toward place-specific adaptation measures, especially in the 'less exposed' Northern Italian region.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0330981