Mediterranean landscape, desertification and the population-economy nexus: permanent assessment and implications for mitigation policies

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification defines ?desertification? as a ?reduction or loss of the biological and economic productivity? resulting from land use mismanagement, or a combination of processes, such as soil erosion, deterioration of soil properties, and long-term loss of natural vegetation. Landscape Degradation (LD) is hence an interactive process involving multiple factors, among which climate, land use, and population pressure play a key role. Joint biophysical and socioeconomic aspects are the main factors negatively impacting the vulnerability of natural and agricultural land especially in Mediterranean-type ecosystems, and their interaction may become extremely complex over space and time, resulting in typical patterns of landscape degradation, molded by increased population density. In order to identify vulnerable areas and quantify the intensity of the associated environmental risk, understanding spatio-temporal trends (together with current status) of landscape degradation is a key issue both from ecological and policy perspectives. Diachronic studies may contribute effectively to policy implementation providing a knowledge base to environmental monitoring and conservation practices. In fact, they would allow, on the one hand, to identify degraded areas needing substantial intervention initiatives for biodiversity and landscape protection; on the other hand, they allow a permanent monitoring of the evolving landscape processes in the perspective of global changes.