Land Degradation and Mitigation Policies in the Mediterranean Region: A Brief Commentary

Abstract

Land degradation is more evident where conditions of environmental vulnerability already exist because of arid climate and unsustainable forms of land exploitation. Consequently, semi-arid and dry areas have been identified as vulnerable land, requiring attention from both science and policy perspectives. In some regions, such as the Mediterranean region, land degradation is particularly intense, although there are no extreme ecological conditions. In these contexts, a wide range of formal and informal responses is necessary to face particularly complex and spatially differentiated territorial processes. However, the fit of responses has been demonstrated to be different over time and space according to the underlying socioeconomic context and the specific ecological conditions. The present commentary discusses this sort of “entropy” in the policy response to land degradation in Southern Europe, outlining the intrinsic complexity of human–nature dynamics at the base of such processes. Reflecting the need of differentiated regional strategies and more specific national measures to combat desertification, three policy frameworks (agro-environmental, economic, social) with an indirect impact on fighting land degradation have been considered, delineating the importance of policy assemblages. Finally, the importance of policy impact assessment methodologies was highlighted, focusing on the possible responses reinforcing a continental strategy against land degradation. By evidencing the role of participatory planning, developmental policies indirectly addressing land degradation reveal to be an important vector of more specific measures abating desertification risk, creating, in turn, a favorable context for direct interventions of mitigation or adaptation to climate change.

Urbanisation-driven land degradation and socioeconomic challenges in peri-urban areas: Insights from Southern Europe

“…Land degradation in rural northern parts of the Southern Europe is mainly associated with the inherent abandonment of agricultural activities, deterioration of landscape structures, unsustainable management of natural resources (i.e. soil), and uncontrolled socioeconomic development in terms of poverty, human pressure, rural-to-urban migration, and settlement densification (Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir et al 2020 ). However, multiple and often more complex drivers can be responsible for land degradation in peri-urban areas in Southern Europe, as in other ‘urban’ parts of the world.…”

“…Despite largely under-investigated, land degradation in peri-urban areas is intimately associated with spatial and temporal changes and interactions of natural and human drivers (Salvati and Zitti 2008 ). Semi-arid climate regimes and extreme weather events, urban expansion and unsustainable land management, spatial disparities, overgrazing, more frequent (and/or severe) wildfires, crop intensification, and declining soil quality have been demonstrated to accentuate land degradation sensitivity in peri-urban areas (Doblas Miranda et al 2018 ; Egidi et al 2020b ; Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir et al 2020 ). These processes represent a complex interconnection between natural and socioeconomic drivers involved in fringe land degradation in Southern Europe (Duvernoy et al 2018 ; Ferreira et al 2021b ).…”

Minimizing the Impacts of Desertification in an Arid Region: A Case Study of the West Desert of Iraq

“…e LDI can be used to further enhance and demonstrate the desertification phenomenon in the study area. Many researchers [3,39] have applied LDI to assess and analyze the hazards of the extension of soil degradation. e LDI was used by Meng et al [40] to determine the degradation of soil based on band 2 and band 3 of the thematic Advances in Civil Engineering mapper sensor and band 3 and band 4 of the operational land imager sensor.…”

Soil fertility and land sustainability in Usangu Basin-Tanzania

“…The projection shows that in the next three decades there will be 30 to 60 million hectares loss of arable land, and 100–200 million hectares of reserved land will be under agriculture and other anthropogenic activities ( Coulibaly and Li, 2020 ; Doos, 2002 ). The decrease in arable land has increased pressure in the available arable land to achieve higher production, this resulted in arable land degradation including a decline in soil fertility and land quality, increased soil erosion, and accumulation of toxic metals as results of excessive use of agro-chemicals required to achieve high yield in poor and degraded arable land ( Gomiero, 2016 ; Halbac-Cotoara-zamfir et al., 2020 ; Hossain et al., 2020 ; Lead et al., 2019 ). Degradation of arable land is likely to affect crop production and sustainability in many agro-ecosystems of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as many of these effects are not easily reversed.…”