An assessment of the desertification risk was carried out for Apulia region (south-eastern Italy), a typical example of many Mediterranean areas affected by land degradation. The applied modelling approach is based on MEDALUS (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use) project funded by the European Commission. A set of new indicators was developed to account for the regional-specific environmental features as well as for the socio-economic parameters relevant to land use planning and control measures. GIS analysis was done including the whole set of indices at both regional and administrative scales that constitute the principal territorial units for natural resources management and for the implementation of mitigation policies. The results showed good performance of the proposed approach that permits not only to identify and refine different degrees of vulnerability to land degradation, but also to analyse specific factors affecting desertification as well as their evaluation in terms of spatial and temporal distribution. The presented method can be easily implemented at different spatial scales (from watershed to regional level) and might represent a benchmark methodology to identify priority measures for mitigation of desertification risk in semi-arid Mediterranean environments. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A GIS-based approach for Desertification Risk Assessment in Apulia region, SE Italy
TRISORIO LIUZZI, Giuliana
2012-01-01
Abstract
An assessment of the desertification risk was carried out for Apulia region (south-eastern Italy), a typical example of many Mediterranean areas affected by land degradation. The applied modelling approach is based on MEDALUS (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use) project funded by the European Commission. A set of new indicators was developed to account for the regional-specific environmental features as well as for the socio-economic parameters relevant to land use planning and control measures. GIS analysis was done including the whole set of indices at both regional and administrative scales that constitute the principal territorial units for natural resources management and for the implementation of mitigation policies. The results showed good performance of the proposed approach that permits not only to identify and refine different degrees of vulnerability to land degradation, but also to analyse specific factors affecting desertification as well as their evaluation in terms of spatial and temporal distribution. The presented method can be easily implemented at different spatial scales (from watershed to regional level) and might represent a benchmark methodology to identify priority measures for mitigation of desertification risk in semi-arid Mediterranean environments. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
