Manual for describing land degradation indicators

Table of Contents

1. Editor
2. Introduction
3. Classification of indicators
4. Land degradation indicators
5. Evaluation and short-list of indicators
6. Explanations for filling the information sheets
7. Farm survey research
   1. List of local indicators
   2. List of regional indicators
8. Focus group approach
9. References

Farm survey research

In all study areas, survey research will be conducted for different land use types such as olive groves, vineyards, cereals, almonds, cotton, pastures, oak forests, pine forests, etc. In each land use type, the process or processes affecting land degradation and desertification will be identified. Based on the selected process or processes, the corresponding list of indicators will be selected from Table 1. Indicators have to be distinguished to local and regional. Local indicators such as slope gradient, soil depth, soil texture, policy enforcement, etc, have to be defined in each study site. Regional indicators such as rainfall, aridity index, rainfall seasonality, urban area, etc must be defined for the broad areas depending on the uniformity of the study region. Then a farm survey will be conducted collecting data for each land use type and land degradation process using the detailed description of indicators (Table 2). An example of the questionnaire to be filled for local and regional indicators for the process soil erosion from water runoff is given in Tables 3 and 4. Data will be collected for each land use type in a number which is statistically appropriate for analysis (possible number 80 field sites per land use type and process of land degradation).