Consiglio per la Ricerca e la sperimentazione in Agricoltura, Centre for the Study of Plant-Soil Interactions (CRA-RPS), via della Navicella 2-4, I-00184 Rome, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2014 Jan 1;466-467:287-99. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.06.091. Epub 2013 Aug 1.
Climate changes, soil vulnerability, loss in biodiversity, and growing human pressure are threatening Mediterranean-type ecosystems which are increasingly considered as a desertification hotspot. In this region, land vulnerability to desertification strongly depends on the interplay between natural and anthropogenic factors. The present study proposes a multivariate exploratory analysis of the relationship between the spatial distribution of land vulnerability to desertification and the socioeconomic contexts found in three geographical divisions of Italy (north, center and south) based on statistical indicators. A total of 111 indicators describing different themes (demography, human settlements, labor market and human capital, rural development, income and wealth) were used to discriminate vulnerable from non-vulnerable areas. The resulting socioeconomic profile of vulnerable areas in northern and southern Italy diverged significantly, the importance of demographic and economic indicators being higher in southern Italy than in northern Italy. On the contrary, human settlement indicators were found more important to discriminate vulnerable and non-vulnerable areas in northern Italy, suggesting a role for peri-urbanization in shaping the future vulnerable areas. An in-depth knowledge of the socioeconomic characteristics of vulnerable land may contribute to scenarios' modeling and the development of more effective policies to combat desertification.
气候变化、土壤脆弱性、生物多样性丧失以及人类压力不断增加，正威胁着地中海型生态系统，这些生态系统正日益被视为荒漠化热点地区。在该地区，土地对荒漠化的脆弱性强烈取决于自然和人为因素的相互作用。本研究提出了一种多元探索性分析，以研究意大利三个地理分区（北部、中部和南部）土地荒漠化脆弱性的空间分布与社会经济背景之间的关系，该分析基于统计指标。总共使用了 111 个指标来描述不同主题（人口、人类住区、劳动力市场和人力资本、农村发展、收入和财富），以区分脆弱区和非脆弱区。意大利北部和南部脆弱地区的社会经济特征差异显著，南部意大利的人口和经济指标比北部意大利更为重要。相反，在意大利北部，人类住区指标对于区分脆弱区和非脆弱区更为重要，这表明城市化在塑造未来脆弱区方面发挥了作用。深入了解脆弱土地的社会经济特征，有助于进行情景建模和制定更有效的防治荒漠化政策。
