Objective The objective of the project is to develop a comprehensive method for monitoring desertification in the south of the Mediterranean basin, which provides information useful for the operational management of arid lands and which involves all the affected countries.The main purpose is to discriminate, at local scale, (and after elimination of seasonal fluctuations) areas where soil and vegetation are degrading, where they are stable, where they are recovering (after restoration action has been taken, e.g.). In addition, the understanding of the relationships between those changes and land use will be a major objective.This aim is an answer to the need for reliable and detailed data on the condition and evolution of arid zones as has been strongly expressed by officials in charge of environmental policies. Desertification in the northern shore of the Mediterranean is already a concern at the European level. The southern shore is far more affected (see map on front cover) because of the dryer climate, the inherent fragility of the ecosystems and high demographic pressure ; a strong political will to tackle this phenomenon exists at national and international levels (confer the international Convention to Combat Desertification).Expected OutcomeExpected results are :1. remotely sensed indicators of ecological changes for the production of maps suited to land management2. assessment of ecological changes over the last 20 years3. GIS with ecologically homogeneous zones of Northern Africa4. change interpretation according to land use and experimental modelling of change forecast5. definition of a comprehensive processing chain dedicated to land management, which will be able to accommodate future enhancements (new types of data and algorithms)The objectives and the final outputs of this project meet the priorities of the INCO-DC programme. There is a strong regional dimension in the project which provides the opportunity for the southern countries to reinforce their scientific communities and which enhances links with other European research programs. The involvement of young scientists (Ph.D.s and post-docs) will increase the scientific potential of each team.The general concept is to integrate all available data on the studied environments. This will include data collected on the ground as well as data acquired by Earth Observation programmes. The scientific approach relies heavily on the experience and results already gained by different partners. This approach includes the identification of ground indicators of local ecological changes (degraded condition, stable, restored,...) the determination of those that can be remotely sensed, the selection of the most adequate high resolution satellite data, the refinement and the design of processing algorithms and data output. This 'bottom-up' approach will then be applied to historical records of data to identify long term changes. These local changes will be analysed in a regional eco-climatic context using medium resolution imagery acquired from the NOAA-AVHRR. Combining this results with socio-economic data will allow the recognition of changes in relation to land use. Future scenarios will be derived from an experiment on modelling changes. The activities over the three years of the project are divided in several main components : a) data and information inventory, b) local ecological changes detection, c) change assessment in the regional and global context, d) human dimension of the changes, e) analysis and interpretation of the changes. In addition to the start-up and final seminars, two joint field experiments, one workshop on data processing, and a mid-term seminar with the end users will allow regular interaction between the partners. Fields of science engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencessoil sciencesland-based treatmentnatural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsnatural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencedata processing Programme(s) FP4-INCO - Specific research, technological development and demonstration programme in the field of cooperation with third countries and international organizations, 1994-1998 Topic(s) 03010102 - Basic natural resources Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator Commission of the European Communities EU contribution No data Address Via E. Fermi 1 21020 Ispra Italy See on map Total cost No data Participants (6) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all CENTRE NATIONAL DE TELEDETECTION Tunisia EU contribution No data Address Route de la Marsa KM9 1080 TUNIS See on map Total cost No data Centre de Recherche Scientifiques et Techniques sur les Zones Arides Algeria EU contribution No data Address 16000 Alger See on map Total cost No data INSTITUT DE RECHERCHE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT France EU contribution No data Address Rue La Fayette 213 97492 SAINTE-CLOTILDE See on map Total cost No data NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF ITALY Italy EU contribution No data Address Via Giovanni Caproni 8 50145 FIRENZE See on map Total cost No data National Authority for Remote Sensing& Space Sciences Egypt EU contribution No data Address 23,Joseph Brows Tito Street 23 11511 Cairo See on map Total cost No data Office Régional de Mise en Valeur Agricole de Ouarzazate Morocco EU contribution No data Address 45000 Ouarzazate See on map Total cost No data
