| MEDAFOR |
Consequences for the mitigation of desertification of EU policies affecting forestry activity: a combined socio-economic and physical environmental approach. |
| Time span: |
1998 - 2001 |
| Aim: |
The overall objective is to develop, apply and test methodologies applicable widely within the EU for investigating the socio-economic and soil sustainability impacts of land use and land management practice change arising from various EU policies and aid schemes which affect forestry activity in selected areas of the Mediterranean vulnerable to land degradation.
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| Description: |
The MEDAFOR project focuses on the hydrological and soil degradational consequences of EU polices and funds affecting forest expansion, development, change and management in desertification-prone areas of the northern Mediterranean. It aims to develop methods for achieving sustainability of EU forestry-related activities thereby supporting the idea of a healthier planet through protecting natural resources. It is multidisciplinary and addresses the need to consider socioeconomic development in striving for environmental sustainability. It seeks to improve the factual basis for EU environmental policy; to contribute to integrating the environment into EU agricultural and cohesion policies; and to evaluate the benefit of incorporating 'key actors' views in improving EU forestry-related policies. The project has three main foci:
- the development of a transferable methodology for determining soil erosion hazard under different land management types.
- the integration of socio-economic factors in assessing likely forestry-related impacts on soil erosion.
- the incorporation of the opinions of 'key actors' in developing improved solutions to anticipated future degradation. |
| Countries: |
Field sites in Portugal, Spain and Italy; partners in Portugal, UK, Spain and Italy. |
| Website: |
http://www.geog.plymouth.ac.uk/medafor/medafor.htm%20 (link expired) |
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Recent European research 
