Database of study site indicators

Table of Contents

1. Compilers and contributors
2. Introduction
3. Defining list of indicators
4. Data collection
5. Indicator classes and weightings
6. Results and Discussion

Defining list of indicators

An integrated approach incorporating indicators from various sources and used for assessing the stage of land degradation and desertification risk has been developed. The provided list of indicators (Table 1) has been formulated by: (a) reviewing the pertinent literature, (b) consulting the various groups of DESIRE project, and (c) incorporating and extrapolating from previous research in desertification research projects. An extensive review has been made on previous or ongoing research projects on the indicator concepts and systems relevant to desertification including indicators such as in MEDALUS, MEDRAP, DESERTLINKS (DIS4ME indicator database). In this regard the most effective database on indicators related to desertification has been developed in DESERTLINKS (system DIS4ME). As a result a long list of indicators has been considered and formulated in tabular form in order to be described in the various study sites. Furthermore, focus group meetings have been organized in which participants have been asked to provide their opinion about environmental security and the use of indicators for protection against desertification. Such an approach was successfully demonstrated by both the MEDACTION and DESERTLINKS projects in which the pertinent techniques were employed. A questionnaire on candidate indicators, including a list of indicators, has been prepared and it was administered to the various stakeholders. The proposed indicators have been qualitatively evaluated using Multi-Criteria Evaluation. This has led to a list of indicators that the stakeholders felt as being the most relevant and important and that they can easily use (or relate to) without extra training or equipment (Table 1). The outcome of the defined list of indicators has been used for conducting a farm survey research in the study sites.

In all the study sites survey research has been conducted in different land use types (such as olive groves, vineyards, cereals, almonds, cotton, pastures, oak forests, pine forests, etc.) representative of Mediterranean environmental conditions. The study has included various indicators such as: (a) state indicators which allow monitoring of the success of mitigation measures, and which probably need to be tailored for maximum sensitivity to each particular technique, and (b) driver and pressure indicators focusing on conditions, where remedial intervention may be needed to prevent desertification. Furthermore, the analysis has included indicators related to local (farm level) and regional conditions (municipality, watershed) such as land use type and its history, land ownership, farm size, soil properties, relief, type of vegetation and plant cover, tillage practices, water quality and quantity, soil erosion control measures, soil water conservation measures, subsidies allocated, population density, migration rate, etc. Each indicator has been described by defining distinct classes (Table 2). The classes have been defined using existing classification systems such as the European geo-referenced soil data base, or existing research data. The various classes of the indicators used have been organized according to the importance to desertification risk.

The various processes and causes of land degradation have been identified in the study sites and the indicators described in Table 1 have been classified in relation to various processes which can be related. Such processes or factors identified in the study sites were: (a) soil erosion including water, tillage and wind erosion, (b) soil salinization, (c) water stress, (d) forest fires, (e) urbanization, and (f) overgrazing. Table 1 shows which indicators from the indicator list are needed to describe each of the degradation processes. As can be deduced from the table, the number of indicators to be used for each process is different, and it is considerably smaller than the whole list of indicators. The indicators and their related datasets has been tabulated in excel form to be included in the Harmonized Database System (HIS) of the DESIRE project.

Table 1. List of candidate indicators related to causes or processes of land degradation and desertification in the study sites

PHYSICAL AND ECOLOGICAL INDICATORS

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Social

Institutional