In spite of the relevance of diagnosis to help the success of desertification treatment, there is a lack of standardized procedures to perform it at operational scales. This project offers a contribution to fill this gap by complementing assessment of desertification status with early warning and vulnerability evaluation of the involved land use systems. To this purpose, the interactive effects of climatic and human drivers of desertification will be taken into account in a dynamic way. The project goal is to deliver a compact set of integrated procedures, with application and tutorial examples at the EU and national scales.

Title and acronym: A Surveillance System for Assessing and Monitoring Desertification - DESURVEY

Dates: from March 2005 to March 2010

Location: Mediterranean Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal Spain), Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia), Asia (China), South America (Chile)

Partnership:

CSIC-Spain, University of Trier University of Trier-Germany, University of East Anglia-UK, RIKS-The Netherlands, University of Leeds-UK, University of Cranfield-UK, Lund University-Sweden, MEDIASFrance-France, CIHEAM Zaragoza-Spain, Universidade de Evora-Portugal, National Observatory of Athens-Greece, INEA-Italy, Universidad de Castilla-la-Mancha-Spain,
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki-Greece, King's College London-UK, IRD-France, Université Catholique de Louvain-Belgium, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin-Germany, European Commision Directorate General JRC IES-Italy, Freie Universitaet Berlin-Germany, Universitat de Valencia-Spain, Agricultural University of Athens-Greece, Instituto Superior de Agronomia-Portugal, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid-Spain, Chinese Academy of Sciences IRSA-China, NAGREF-Greece, ENEA C.R. Casaccia-Italy, DLR-Germany, Universidade Nova de Lisboa-Portugal, GFZ Postdam-Germany, Universidad de Almeria-Spain, Universidad de Chile-Chile, Centre de Recherches Forestières-Morocco, Institut des Régions Arides-Tunisia, CRSTRA-Biskra, NOVELTIS-France, GeoApikonisis-Greece, Centre du Suivi Ecologique-Senegal

Source of Funding: European Commission - Framework Programme 6

Role of NRD: partner

NRD Scientific responsible: Dott.ssa C. Zanolla, Dott. C. Zucca

NRD members and staff involved: Dott.ssa C. Zanolla, Dott. C. Zucca