Indicators in the study sites

Table of Contents

1. Compilers and contributors
2. Introduction
3. Climate indicators
4. Water indicators
5. Soil indicators
6. Vegetation indicators
7. Water runoff indicators
8. Forest fires indicators
9. Agriculture indicators
10. Cultivation indicators
11. Animal husbandry indicators
12. Land management indicators
    1. Fire protection
    2. Sustainable farming
    3. Reclamation of affected areas
    4. Reclamation of mining areas
    5. Soil erosion control measures
    6. Soil water conservation measures
    7. Presence of terracing
13. Land use indicators
14. Water use indicators
15. Tourism indicators
16. Human characteristics indicators
17. Institutional indicators
18. Conclusions
19. References

Land management indicators

As it was mentioned in the introduction, the impacts of land degradation can be faced by responding with appropriate measures and land management practices. There is no doubt that soil erosion is the major land degradation process in hilly areas of the study sites. In most cases, this process is not controlled by a single land management practice but by a number of actions such as sustainable farming, land terracing, fire protection, enhancing vegetation cover, improving soil aggregate stability, etc. Sustainable farming may include practices such as conservation tillage, contour rotational farming, and incorporation of plant residues into the soil for improving aggregate stability. Terracing is an alternative land management practice for water conservation and erosion control. Vegetated areas comprise an effective sediment filter, usable in agricultural and other lands. Many areas cannot be efficiently cropped or, if cropped, are extremely susceptible to soil erosion. Areas with high rain erosivity index require maintenance of adequate vegetation cover during the rainy season. The conditions, in such areas, are aggravated by frequent fires, which have recently intensified in the Mediterranean Europe. An effective measure that might combat further land degradation is the development of alternative environmentally sound and socially tolerable land use schemes. These schemes should be implementing zoning in each threatened area, taking into consideration climatic, soil topographic, and social characteristics. Areas facing problems of salinization, acidification, and heavy metal contamination require reclamation in order to support efficiently the growing vegetation. In this project the following indicators related to land management for combating desertification have been considered: (a) fire protection, (b) sustainable farming, (c) reclamation of affected areas, (d) reclamation of mining areas, (e) soil erosion control measures, (f) soil water conservation measures, and (g) land terracing.

Table 10. Number of field sites in which indicators related to land management was defined in the filled questionnaires