Introduction
Physical, social, economic, technological and environmental factors combined exert pressure on land use resources. In this work package, an integrated approach incorporating indicators from various sources reflecting the stage of land degradation and desertification as well as the effectiveness of the various land management practices has been developed. The developed desertification indicator system will be used as a tool to explore the relationship between degradation of the environment and human activities; in particular the effects that different land management practices and intervention policies have on the environmental sensitivity of an area. The defined indicators will enable land users to evaluate the efficiency and efficacy of different mitigation or intervention strategies regarding protection of the environment from desertification. The indicator system will also allow for more effective land management and degradation monitoring and enable different ecosystem vulnerability scenarios to be tested in order to assess critical stress factors and their impacts on desertification. The main objective of this WP is to identify potential land degradation indicators for policy-makers, land managers and researchers. More specifically the work proposed in this WP includes the following: (a) definition of a practical number of indicators based on a shortlist of indicators available from literature, previous and ongoing research programs, and (b) documentation and development a harmonized data base of indicators used or being used by different parties in the selected study sites by conducting field surveys on prevailing land use types affecting desertification in Mediterranean locales.
