Table of indicators relating to land abandonment
Author: Constantinos Kosmas <lsos2kok@aua.gr>

Based on the discussion of the issue of land abandonment and on a workshop session carried out by members of the DESERTLINKS project, we have attempted to structure the relationship of the indicators to the issue.

The land abandonment issue is divided into three themes:

• what can be observed (or process or state dynamics);
• reasons for what is observed (or factors influencing the issue or driving forces and pressures);
• consequences of what is observed (or impacts and responses).

The different facets of each theme are given in sub-themes and indicators of direct relevance to measuring or monitoring are suggested. Some are also suggested as headline indicators which, if considered as a group, form a sub-set of indicators encapsulating the major processes in land abandonment (see also Combining and using indicators: Headline indicators).

Please note that the structure presented in the table below is open to discussion. It may not be comprehensive because it is restricted to the indicators currently in the DIS4ME database. Some indicators appear more than once because they relate to more than one theme. This structure is something we would like to develop further in the future.

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