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Wetlands in Crisis: The Silent Desertification Threat on the Greek Wetlands

Author

Listed:
  • Anastasios Zotos

    (Department of Sustainable Agriculture, University of Patras, 30131 Agrinio, Greece
    These authors share first authorship.)

  • Ioannis P. Kokkoris

    (Department of Sustainable Agriculture, University of Patras, 30131 Agrinio, Greece
    These authors share first authorship.)

  • Ioannis Charalampopoulos

    (Laboratory of General and Agricultural Meteorology, Department of Crop Science, Agricultural University of Athens, 11855 Athens, Greece)

  • Eleni S. Bekri

    (Environmental Engineering Laboratory, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, Greece)

  • Panayotis Dimopoulos

    (Laboratory of Botany, Department of Biology, University of Patras, 26504 Rio, Greece)

Abstract

This study deals with the information gap on desertification risk for wetland habitat types in Natura 2000 network sites of Greece. Using the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) index as a proxy, all Natura 2000 wetland habitat types have been assessed and assigned to desertification risk categories. The assessment was conducted at the national, regional, and local scales in order to provide different outcomes for targeted support on decision and policy making regarding restoration and conservation measures. The main results document that circa 20% of wetland habitat types area are considered under desertification risk, while circa 10% are considered as potentially affected by desertification. It was also shown that there should be prioritization of the habitat types that need attention due to their inclusion in the different desertification risk categories. The study also highlights the administrative regions (NUTS2) and Natura 2000 sites and the need to structure, draft, and implement conservation projects to mitigate wetlands’ risk as well as the use of wetlands as primary nature-based solutions (NbS) in the battle with desertification and climate change. Management implications are also provided from the perspective of habitat restoration as well as for their exploitation as valuable NbS for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services maintenance.

Suggested Citation

  • Anastasios Zotos & Ioannis P. Kokkoris & Ioannis Charalampopoulos & Eleni S. Bekri & Panayotis Dimopoulos, 2024. "Wetlands in Crisis: The Silent Desertification Threat on the Greek Wetlands," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-16, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:13:y:2024:i:10:p:1567-:d:1486827
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Vassiliki Vlami & Ioannis P. Kokkoris & Ioannis Charalampopoulos & Thomas Doxiadis & Christos Giannakopoulos & Miltiades Lazoglou, 2023. "A Transect Method for Promoting Landscape Conservation in the Climate Change Context: A Case-Study in Greece," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-29, September.
    2. D. Carvalho & S. C. Pereira & R. Silva & A. Rocha, 2022. "Aridity and desertification in the Mediterranean under EURO-CORDEX future climate change scenarios," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 1-24, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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