Search results for "Desertification"

Project LIFE11 ENV/IT/0002215 ResilForMed - Resilience of Mediterranean Forests to Climate Change

2017

Forest and pre-forest ecosystems of Sicily are characterized by a high structural simplification and fragility, reduced species diversity, high density, pest and diseases that are expected to worsen according to the ongoing anthropogenic climate change. In this work we present the achievements of the project LIFE ResilForMed (Resilience of Mediterranean Forests to climate change), as Sicilian response on adaptation and mitigation to climate change. ResilForMed project is co-funded by the LIFE Initiative (2007-2014) and started June 1st 2012 with an expected conclusion on June 30th 2017. The project consortium involves: (i) the Department of Rural and Land Development of the Sicilian Region,…

Irrigation, salinization and desertification

2009

Irrigation, salinization and desertification in Sicily

2009

Sustainable management systems to prevent and adaptat to desertification: Case Studies from the LIFE Desert Adapt project

2021

Around 40% of the ice-free terrestrial surface is under desertification risk, and the Mediterranean is one of the most sensible regions. Concomitantly, most areas occupied by agriculture suffer from lack of organic matter in the soil, as well as very low tree cover, making them more vulnerable to climate change. The LIFE (Desert Adapt) project aims to develop a desert adaptation model to enhance resistence and resilience of farms, both public and private, to desertification by appliyng an integrative sustainable land management in Italy, Spain and Portugal. In Italy three sites in Sicily are involved, two private areas in Caltanissetta and Catagirone and the municiaplity of Lampedusa.The mo…

Bird abundance and richness in ten Mediterranean agroforestry systems

2019

Since the last century agriculture is strongly promoting the simplification of the landscape. The LIFE Desert Adapt project is been developed across 1000 hectares in Italy, Spain, Portu-gal and has the objective of implementing integrative agroforestry-based land use planning and management, and one of the indicators to evaluate the project effectiveness is birds richness and abundance. Here we present the results of the first assessment and explore the relationships with the main vegetation cover types. We established 68 sampling points where we recorded bird abundance and richness. In total we registered 57 bird species, sampling points surrounded by woodlands presented 50 species, while …

The transformation of agricultural systems into agro-forestry systems as a system of adaptation to climate and economic changes: some Sicilian case s…

2021

Many traditional agricultural systems show different limits both in ecological and economic terms. These limits are exacerbated by the increasingly extreme climatic conditions which in the southern regions are manifested essentially in a concentration of rainfall and in increasingly intense dry periods. As part of the LIFE (Desert Adapt) project, some companies involved in the project are modifying their cultivation systems without changing the land use destination. This appears possible by introducing elements of diversification which make the system more resilient as a whole but which guarantees safer economic resources. In particular, in the case of a "classic" agricultural company Calta…

The transformation of agricultural systems into agro-forestry systems as a mechanism of adaptation to climate and economic changes: some Sicilian cas…

2021

Many traditional agricultural systems show different limits both in ecological and economic terms. These limits are exacerbated by the increasingly extreme climatic conditions which in the southern regions are manifested essentially in a concentration of rainfall and in increasingly intense dry periods. As part of the LIFE (Desert Adapt) project, some companies involved in the project are modifying their cultivation systems without changing the land use destination. This appears possible by introducing elements of diversification which make the system more resilient as a whole but which guarantees safer economic resources. In particular, in the case of a "classic" agricultural company Calta…

Monitoring desertification and land degradation over sub-Saharan Africa

2004

A desertification monitoring system is developed that uses four indicators derived using continental-scale remotely sensed data: vegetation cover, rain use efficiency (RUE), surface run-off and soil erosion. These indicators were calculated on a dekadal time step for 1996. Vegetation cover was estimated using the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The estimation of RUE also employed NDVI and, in addition, rainfall derived from Meteosat cold cloud duration data. Surface run-off was modelled using the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) model parametrized using the rainfall estimates, vegetation cover, land cover, and digital soil maps. Soil erosion, one of the most indicative paramet…

Critical range of soil organic carbon in southern Europe lands under desertification risk.

2021

Soil quality is fundamental for ecosystem long term functionality, productivity and resilience to current climatic changes. Despite its importance, soil is lost and degraded at dramatic rates worldwide. In Europe, the Mediterranean areas are a hotspot for soil erosion and land degradation due to a combination of climatic conditions, soils, geomorphology and anthropic pressure. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is considered a key indicator of soil quality as it relates to other fundamental soil functions supporting crucial ecosystem services. In the present study, the functional relationships among SOC and other important soil properties were investigated in the topsoil of 38 sites under different …

Soil Quality Characterization of Mediterranean Areas under Desertification Risk for the Implementation of Management Schemes Aimed at Land Degradatio…

2020

Soil is a key component of ecosystems as it provides fundamental ecosystem functions and services, first of all supporting primary productivity, by physical, chemical and biological interaction with plants. However, soil loss and degradation are at present two of the most critical environmental issues. This phenomenon is particularly critical in Mediterranean areas, where inappropriate land management, in combination with the increasingly harshening of climatic conditions due to Climate Change, is leading to significant land degradation and desertification and is expected to worsen in the future, leading to economic and social crisis. In such areas, it is of fundamental importance to apply …