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Two wrongs don't make a right: A multi-step decomposition of latent dimensions of sustainable development and desertification risk in Italy

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  • Salvati, Luca

Abstract

Desertification risk affects Mediterranean ecosystems as a result of the mutual interplay between natural and human factors. The peculiar socioeconomic profile of vulnerable areas (mainly based on rural poverty, job shortage and the consequent unemployment, subsidence agriculture and ecological fragility of land) suggests that desertification risk may negatively impact the sustainable development of local communities, leading to an irreversible depletion of soil resources. However, although sustainable development and desertification risk remain two hegemonic concepts in both ecological and economic disciplines, their intimate relationship has been occasionally investigated. The present study contributes to fill this knowledge gap delineating a multi-step procedure that analyses, at the municipal scale, the multivariate relationship among 160 indicators of sustainable development and desertification risk in Italy. Based on a Principal Component Analysis (PCA), the procedure performed a spectral decomposition of 18 dimensions of sustainable development (populated with 156 indicators) into 53 latent components taken as predictors of four indicators of desertification risk in a partial least square regression. Results document three sequential ‘early desertification spirals', the first one referring to agricultural intensification (1960–1990), the second one dependent on urbanization-driven human pressure (1990–2000), and the third one reflecting wealth accumulation and societal changes toward less sustainable lifestyles and consumption patterns. This latent evolution may confirm the increasing importance of ‘immaterial' forces such as globalization, societal transformations, and other ‘soft' factors of change, when lowering environmental quality, in spite of more traditional drivers of ecosystem degradation, such as agricultural intensification and economic growth, typical of a capitalistic ‘material' world.

Suggested Citation

  • Salvati, Luca, 2023. "Two wrongs don't make a right: A multi-step decomposition of latent dimensions of sustainable development and desertification risk in Italy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 212(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:212:y:2023:i:c:s0921800923001891
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2023.107926
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Salvati, Luca & Zitti, Marco, 2009. "Substitutability and weighting of ecological and economic indicators: Exploring the importance of various components of a synthetic index," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(4), pages 1093-1099, February.
    2. Cesare Feliciantonio & Luca Salvati & Efthymia Sarantakou & Kostas Rontos, 2018. "Class diversification, economic growth and urban sprawl: evidences from a pre-crisis European city," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 1501-1522, July.
    3. Geert Sterk & Jetse J. Stoorvogel, 2020. "Desertification–Scientific Versus Political Realities," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(5), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Mariateresa Ciommi & Francesco M. Chelli & Margherita Carlucci & Luca Salvati, 2018. "Urban Growth and Demographic Dynamics in Southern Europe: Toward a New Statistical Approach to Regional Science," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-16, August.
    5. Salvati, Luca & Ciommi, Maria Teresa & Serra, Pere & Chelli, Francesco M., 2019. "Exploring the spatial structure of housing prices under economic expansion and stagnation: The role of socio-demographic factors in metropolitan Rome, Italy," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 143-152.
    6. Mariateresa Ciommi & Francesco M. Chelli & Luca Salvati, 2019. "Integrating parametric and non-parametric multivariate analysis of urban growth and commuting patterns in a European metropolitan area," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 957-979, March.
    7. Rares Halbac-Cotoara-Zamfir & Andrea Colantoni & Enrico Maria Mosconi & Stefano Poponi & Simona Fortunati & Luca Salvati & Filippo Gambella, 2020. "From Historical Narratives to Circular Economy: De-Complexifying the “Desertification” Debate," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-18, July.
    8. Sofia Bajocco & Eleni Dragoz & Ioannis Gitas & Daniela Smiraglia & Luca Salvati & Carlo Ricotta, 2015. "Mapping Forest Fuels through Vegetation Phenology: The Role of Coarse-Resolution Satellite Time-Series," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-14, March.
    9. Perrin, Coline & Nougarèdes, Brigitte & Sini, Laura & Branduini, Paola & Salvati, Luca, 2018. "Governance changes in peri-urban farmland protection following decentralisation: A comparison between Montpellier (France) and Rome (Italy)," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 535-546.
    10. Benassi, Federico & Cividino, Sirio & Cudlin, Pavel & Alhuseen, Ahmed & Lamonica, Giuseppe Ricciardo & Salvati, Luca, 2020. "Population trends and desertification risk in a Mediterranean region, 1861-2017," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    11. Gianluca Egidi & Giovanni Quaranta & Rosanna Salvia & Luca Salvati & Renata Včeláková & Pavel Cudlín, 2022. "Urban sprawl and desertification risk: unraveling the latent nexus in a mediterranean country," Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 65(3), pages 441-460, January.
    12. Jaime Martínez-Valderrama & Emilio Guirado & Fernando T. Maestre, 2020. "Unraveling Misunderstandings about Desertification: The Paradoxical Case of the Tabernas-Sorbas Basin in Southeast Spain," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-12, August.
    13. Saskia Keesstra & Gerben Mol & Jan De Leeuw & Joop Okx & Co Molenaar & Margot De Cleen & Saskia Visser, 2018. "Soil-Related Sustainable Development Goals: Four Concepts to Make Land Degradation Neutrality and Restoration Work," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-20, November.
    14. Lanfredi, Maria & Egidi, Gianluca & Bianchini, Leonardo & Salvati, Luca, 2022. "One size does not fit all: A tale of polycentric development and land degradation in Italy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    15. Giuseppe R. Lamonica & Maria C. Recchioni & Francesco M. Chelli & Luca Salvati, 2020. "The efficiency of the cross-entropy method when estimating the technical coefficients of input–output tables," Spatial Economic Analysis, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 62-91, January.
    16. Zambon, Ilaria & Benedetti, Anna & Ferrara, Carlotta & Salvati, Luca, 2018. "Soil Matters? A Multivariate Analysis of Socioeconomic Constraints to Urban Expansion in Mediterranean Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 173-183.
    17. Margherita Carlucci & Francesco Maria Chelli & Luca Salvati, 2018. "Toward a New Cycle: Short-Term Population Dynamics, Gentrification, and Re-Urbanization of Milan (Italy)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-12, August.
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