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Spain
Author:
Leopoldo Rojo Serrano <lrojo@mma.es>
g Objectives
of National Action Programme
| Objectives |
Actions
Proposed |
Indicators
used |
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1. To contribute to the sustainable
development of the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas by the
prevention or reduction of land degradation, the rehabilitation
of partly degraded land and the recovery of desertified land.
2. The identification of the main factors and mechanisms of desertification
in Spain and the definition of the practical measures to combat
desertification.
3. The integration in the National Policy of Sustainable Development.
4. Promotion of the institutional co-ordination and the development
and design of the policies needed for the various sector-oriented
action plans.
5. Definition of the Programme's role as a catalyst of the measures
related to Desertification control.
6. Promotion of the participatory
process of all the involved sectors of society.
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1. Fostering of sustainable
agricultural practices for soil conservation.
2. Management of the extensive
cattle-raising in the arid and semiarid areas.
3. Fostering of sustainable
management of the forests.
4. Basins management and
restoration in arid and semi-arid degraded areas.
5. Prevention and combat
of forest fires.
6. Sustainable management
of the water resources, particularly with measures focused to the
efficiency and saving of water, as well as the prevention and mitigation
of the aquifers overexplotation and soil salinization.
7. Assessment and monitoring
of the desertification.
8. Analysis, dissemination
and usage of the results of the programmes of I+D+I on desertification.
Promotion of Projects and Surveys.
9. Incorporation of the
social sectors affected by NAP development.
10. Net of demonstrative
Projects of restoration and sustainable management.
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1. Aridity index.
2. Soil Loss Index (USLE).
3. Percentage of the accumulated
surface area affected by fire over a 10 year period.
4. Damage caused to forests
by drought.
5. The existence of over-exploited
aquifers.
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| Source:
Working document of the Spanish National Action Programme to Combat
Desertification, 2003. |
Source:
Working document of the Spanish National Action Programme to Combat
Desertification, 2003. |
Source: DISMED Technical Workshop on NAP information needs. Spanish
NCB report. DISMED-florence-spain-NCB.rtf |
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g Identification
of the areas affected by desertification in Spain
The objective is to
identify physical and socio-economic areas which are affected in which
to focus actions to combat desertification.
As a first approximation,
a simple model has been applied based on the characterisation of hydrological
sub basins paying attention to indicators which reflect the intensity
with which factors and processes determining desertification occur. Using
this model a map of sub-basins showing the degree to which they are affected
by desertification has been produced.
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Territorial
working units. Spain
was divided into 340 hydrographic sub-basins the advantage being
that this working unit has also been employed as a physico-biological
and socio-economico-political unit for planning and arranging natural
resources.
For each sub-basin the intensity
of four factors and processes which determine desertification was
determined. These were aridity, erosion, fire and non-sustainable
use of water resources, specifically the over-exploitation of aquifers.
The combination of these four factors gives a first approximation
of how affected each sub-basin is by desertification.
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Aridity. In
accordance with the definition of desertification by the UNCCD,
the sub-basins included in the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid
areas have been characterised. These are those in which the ratio
between annual rainfall and potential evapotranspiration is between
0.05 and 0.65. In the context of the Convention it is considered
that, because of their climatic conditions, humid and sub-humid
zones are not affected by desertification.
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Erosive state. For
the whole of Spain, there are maps showing the erosive state. From
these maps the median soil loss, expressed in t/ha/year has been
obtained for each sub-basin.
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Fire intensity. A
map of fire intensity, measured as a percentage of cumulated surface
affected by fire over a 10 year period was used to characterise
forest fires for each sub-basin. Intensity was classified into four
groups according to the following range of values >25%, 10-25%,
1-10%, <1%.
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Aquifer overexploitation.
Finally, with regard to non-sustainable use of water resources
the state of exploitation of aquifers was used as an indicator (source
Libro Blanco de las Aguas Subterráneas) classified according
to the following range of values (where e is extraction of groundwater
and R is recharge by infiltration): E>R; R>E>0.8R; local
overexploitation problems; no problems.
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Combining factors.
For each sub-basin the four factors were combined, in order to obtain
a map showing a first approximation of the degree of desertification.
Numerical values were assigned to each of the classes as shown in
the table. From this it can be seen that the heaviest weighting was
given to erosion which encompasses various factors like erosivity
of the rain, slope gradient, type and density of vegetation cover
and the susceptibility to erosion of the parent material. Also it
was considered that aridity had a heavier weight than fire intensity
and over-exploitation of aquifers. |
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Degree to which areas are
affected. The sum of each of the numerical values characterising
each sub-basin is shown in the table in which the values have been
grouped into four categories of degree to which they are affected,
very high, high, medium and low.
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Map of desertification-affected
sub-basins. This
is the map which combines the information for the four factors and
which shows those sub-basins which have been most affected by desertification.
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Number of desertification-affected
sub-basins. Following the application of this model, it can be
seen that 31.49% of the Spanish territory is either very highly or
highly affected by desertification. This indicates the magnitude of
the problem that confronts us. |
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g Development
of a desertification indicator system for Spain
g Background
Indicator potentialities:
UNCCD
- Assessment and
mapping of desertification
- Identification
of causes of desertification
- Impact assessment
- Justification of
mitigation measures
- Monitoring of efficiency
of desertification measures
Indicator potentialities:
Spanish NAP
- Identification
of sensitive and affected areas
- Monitoring the
efficiency of preventive and mitigation measures
Existence of diverse
approaches to environmental indicators:
- OECD
- CSD
- EEA
- Spanish Ministry
of Environment (Spanish System of Environmental Indicators)
- inter alia
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Purpose and scope
To identify and apply
a set of indicators to meet the STATED NEEDS at national and international
level, integrated in the existing Spanish System of Environmental Indicators.
Existing contributions
are numerous and relevant. Rather than contribute more indicators it is
better to profit from the existing ones. The approach taken has been the
gathering, selection and systematisation of existing indicators directly
applicable to desertification or their connected sectors (sustainable
development, integrated agriculture, sustainable forestry, water management).
The focus is placed on Spanish biophysical, social and economic activity.
The final objective
is to provide the interested users at the different levels (national,
sub-national and local) with a tool box which allows flexible use adaptable
to their interests and data availability.
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g
The approach
Information
gathering to describe the state of the art
International sources
- organisations
- United Nations
Commission on Sustainable Development: Sustainable development indicators.
- Mediterranean Commission
of Sustainable Development: Indicators for the Sustainable Development
in the Mediterranean.
- Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): Environmental indicators.
- EEA (European Environment
Agency): Environmental Indicators.
- Eurostat. Statistical
Office of the European Communities: Pressure Indicators.
- European Commision:
environmental indicators.
- EEA (European Environment
Agency): Soil Indicators.
- European Commision:
Agri-environmental indicators.
- Organisation for
Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): Agri-environmental indicators.
- FAO/PNUD/PNUMA/World
Bank: Initiative for Earth Quality Indicators.
- UNCCD: United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification.
International sources - projects
- MEDALUS: Research
works over desertification in Southern Europe.
- MEDRAP: Works and
surveys to support the RAP.
- DISMED: Information
system to support the NAPs of the Mediterranean countries.
- DESERTLINKS: Indicators
of desertification for the Mediterranean Europe.
- LADA: Indicators
of land degradation.
National sources
- CRITERIOS E INDICADORES
PANEUROPEOS PARA UNA GESTIÓN SOSTENIBLE DE LOS BOSQUES: Desarrollo
en España en el Inventario Forestal Nacional y en el marco del
Plan Forestal Español.
- ESTRATEGIA ESPAÑOLA
DE DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE: Indicadores de sostenibilidad.
- SISTEMA ESPAÑOL
DE INDICADORES AMBIENTALES: Tronco Nacional de Indicadores Ambientales.
- PLAN NACIONAL DE
REGADÍOS (PNR): Indicadores agro-ambientales para el Plan de
Vigilancia Ambiental del PNR.
Indicator
selection and systematization
Previous definition
of fundamental concepts - indicator, parameter, index
Classification features:
i) grouping according to the indicated concept, ii) multiple classification
criteria - this provides the set of indicators with multifunctionality
consistent with the tool bos and open system approach adopted.
The selected indicators
were classified into groups according to their
- functional similarity;
- biological, economic,
social or institutional nature;
to their position
in the
- D, P, S, I, R framework
- sectorial framework
(agriculture, forestry, water resources)
- ecosystem framework
(water, soil, biotic);
to their spatial
reference
- national, regional,
local;
to certain ecological
land units or desertification landscapes as related to the National Action
Programme
and to other information
including
- typology of the
indicator (environmental, pan European, soil, sustainability, etc)
- Organisation/project
source of the indicator
- dimensions of the
indicator, if any (e.g. cm, percentage)
- whether or not
a fact sheet or description of the indicator exists.
From existing indicator descriptions
or fact sheets the indicators related to each concept have been described.
The basic methodology is the following: out from the gathered previous
facts sheets, it is selected the relevant data and information in accordance
with the Spanish national situation and necessities. The result is a collection
of "New Fact Sheets" structured not by the singular indicator,
but by the general concept. From existing indicator descriptions or fact
sheets the indicators related to each concept have been described.
These new fact sheets are in three
parts. (1) Concept: the concept is defined and a concise explanation is
given of its relevance to desertification. (2) Indicators: each indicator
that is part of the group is explained briefly and other sources of information
are given. (3) Interpretation and evaluation of data: the data and identified
needs are evaluated and interpreted.
Examples
of application at different scales
The features of the
system are:
- tool box
- custom made
- multifunctional
- open / adaptable
to every case and condition
Applications examples
are available at these scales
- National
- Sub-national (Guadalentin)
- Local/farm/project
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Pre-requisites as boundary conditions for
indicator system requirements
Selection and filtering
of indicators according to their
- conceptual informative
value
- informative value
- availability (homogeneity)
- interrelations
Methodological treatment
for understanding and exploitation
- simple
- intuitive
- conceptually based
Consistency
- objectives (needs)
- themes
- complexity
- scale
Desertification is
a dynamic phenomenon. Therefore data should be used from two different
time periods. Changes in data over time will show how desertification
landscapes evolved. The following diagram shows a theoretical scheme for
dynamic indicators of desertification.
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