92
Enne G., Zucca C., Zanolla C.
Most research on the subject of desertification was undertaken before that the
recent guidelines on research and application of useful indicators were issued by the
CST-UN-CCD, the Committee on Science and Technology of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification. The concept of Desertification itself in the
context of our regions is still quite new for most of the scientific community.
Consequently, it is not surprising that international bibliography on the subject often
seems to lack uniformity and is frequently conditioned by the specificities of
individual disciplines, generally ill-suited to the extrapolation of elements that could
be applied to more general and complex situations.
The task of developing these indicators is a multidisciplinary one, therefore
involving natural, social and economic sciences. Moreover, since among the causes
of Desertification the Convention mentions political and cultural factors, the
contribution of political science and anthropology is absolutely necessary to
complete the frame of knowledge.
Hitherto scientific work on the subject has not only been deficient in terms of
interdisciplinarity, often restricted to the natural sciences, but even within the
disciplines themselves where comparisons have not been carried out to overcome the
major differences in approach prevailing to this day.
Finally, the task of identifying a limited set of essential and efficient indicators
does not only require the contribution of all the disciplines involved, but also calls
for an awareness of the problem and a thorough grasp of objectives within the
individual groups of disciplines. With regard to this aspect the international
scientific community has understood the impossibility to determine a set of universal
indicators and, on the other hand, the importance to devise a method for the
identification of context driven indicators able to effectively represent the different
aspects of Desertification. This requires a higher level of perception of the
desertification processes and of the real priorities, which can only be attained by an
adequate social participation.
The results of the Porto Torres Seminar are proof of the existence of these
problems. Consequently, there still remains much work to be done with particular
reference to harmonisation and comparison, which hopefully could be done by
interdisciplinary groups specially set up for the purpose and through international
concerted actions.
In the light of the above and of the experiences matured in this field, the
following priorities were identified at the Porto Torres Seminar:
- Need for methodologies that, starting from the experiences already matured in
national and international research projects, integrate the evaluation of the
physical, biological and socio-economic processes contributing to the land
degradation and desertification so as to identify indicators useful in land
planning and information dissemination at all levels.
- Need for supporting the testing of indicators already available.
Need for setting up a network to monitor desertification both at national and at
Mediterranean basin scale and to improve availability and accessibility of data
sets.
Enne G., Zucca C., Zanolla C.
Most research on the subject of desertification was undertaken before that the
recent guidelines on research and application of useful indicators were issued by the
CST-UN-CCD, the Committee on Science and Technology of the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification. The concept of Desertification itself in the
context of our regions is still quite new for most of the scientific community.
Consequently, it is not surprising that international bibliography on the subject often
seems to lack uniformity and is frequently conditioned by the specificities of
individual disciplines, generally ill-suited to the extrapolation of elements that could
be applied to more general and complex situations.
The task of developing these indicators is a multidisciplinary one, therefore
involving natural, social and economic sciences. Moreover, since among the causes
of Desertification the Convention mentions political and cultural factors, the
contribution of political science and anthropology is absolutely necessary to
complete the frame of knowledge.
Hitherto scientific work on the subject has not only been deficient in terms of
interdisciplinarity, often restricted to the natural sciences, but even within the
disciplines themselves where comparisons have not been carried out to overcome the
major differences in approach prevailing to this day.
Finally, the task of identifying a limited set of essential and efficient indicators
does not only require the contribution of all the disciplines involved, but also calls
for an awareness of the problem and a thorough grasp of objectives within the
individual groups of disciplines. With regard to this aspect the international
scientific community has understood the impossibility to determine a set of universal
indicators and, on the other hand, the importance to devise a method for the
identification of context driven indicators able to effectively represent the different
aspects of Desertification. This requires a higher level of perception of the
desertification processes and of the real priorities, which can only be attained by an
adequate social participation.
The results of the Porto Torres Seminar are proof of the existence of these
problems. Consequently, there still remains much work to be done with particular
reference to harmonisation and comparison, which hopefully could be done by
interdisciplinary groups specially set up for the purpose and through international
concerted actions.
In the light of the above and of the experiences matured in this field, the
following priorities were identified at the Porto Torres Seminar:
- Need for methodologies that, starting from the experiences already matured in
national and international research projects, integrate the evaluation of the
physical, biological and socio-economic processes contributing to the land
degradation and desertification so as to identify indicators useful in land
planning and information dissemination at all levels.
- Need for supporting the testing of indicators already available.
Need for setting up a network to monitor desertification both at national and at
Mediterranean basin scale and to improve availability and accessibility of data
sets.