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Desertification Indicator System for Mediterranean Europe

Examples of use

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Desertification Information System
to support National Action Programmes in the Mediterranean (DISMED)
DIS4ME editor: Jane Brandt <desertlinks@medalus.demon.co.uk>

DISMED is funded by Italian cooperation. The coordinating institutions are the UNCCD Secretariat, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) and the Foundation for Applied Meteorology (FMA). From the DISMED web site it is possible to download the maps and information layers in other formats and also the methodological documents (see DISMED Products). Within a few months it will be possible to download a map merging both the northern and southern Mediterranean regions. With grateful thanks to Anna Rita Gentile (EEA) and Lorenzo Genesio (FMA) for their input to this page.

The MEDALUS ESA methodology has been used and adapted by DISMED to map sensitivity to desertification for the whole mediterranean basin, at a scale of 1:1,000,000.

The objectives of the DISMED project are: to improve the capacity of national administrations of Mediterranean countries to effectively program measures and policies to combat desertification and the effects of drought. This aim has been pursued by reinforcing the communication amongst them, facilitating the exchange of information and establishing a common information system to monitor the physical and socio-economic conditions of areas at risk, assess the extent, severity and the trend of land degradation.

The country partners are:

  • Northern African sub-region: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia
  • Northern Mediterranean region: Greece, Italy, Portugal, France, Spain and Turkey.

One of the principal joint actions taken by the project has been the development of a common map of sensitivity to desertification at the scale 1:1.000.000, using the following types of data layers: climate; soil; vegetation; land management (including socio-economic indicators). The methodology is consistent with the MEDALUS ESA methodology and takes into account four indexes:

  • climate quality index;
  • soil quality index;
  • vegetation quality index;
  • land management quality index.

The climate quality index is based on the following aridity index equation:

Where:
Pi = mean monthly rainfall event (mm);
ETPi = mean monthly evapotranspiration (mm).

Climate quality index. Rainfall/PET 1961-1990 (yearly mean rainfall / yearly mean potential evapotranspiration)

The soil quality index uses four of the six original ESA methodoloy layers:

SQI = (Parent Material x Depth x Texture x Slope)**1/4

Soil quality index. Data derived from the European soil database version 2.

The vegetation quality index uses all four of the original ESA methodology layers:

VQI = (Erosion Protection x Drought Resistance x Coverage x Fire Resistance)**1/4

Vegetation quality index. The dataset was created by assigning values for each parameter to Corine Land Cover third level classes.

Although a land management quality index was originally envisaged, the lack of an agreed methodology or data availability made it impractical to include this layer.

The Desertification Sensitivity Index combines the three quality indices.

DSI = (CQI * SQI * VQI)**1\3

Desertification sensitivity index.
Map of Sensitivity to desertification for Northern African countries. The map is based on the DISMED methodology and map editing was coordinated by OSS.
Desertification sensitivity map of Italy. Based on analysis carried out by DISMED project FMA elaborated a map of sensitivity to desertification for Italy

For further information on the methodology please visit the CASE web site.

Sources:

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