The hotspot of land desertification is the south of the Mediterranean as well as in its areas Greeceher Italyher Spainher Portugal and her of France extreme degradation of the soil is observed with the result that it is no longer possible to produce plant biomass, which leads to the desertification of the land. This is explained to the Athenian-Macedonian News Agency by the professor at the Laboratory of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry of the Agricultural University of Athens, Dionysis Gasparatos and the assistant professor at the Laboratory of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry of the Agricultural University of Athens, Orestis Kairis.

The issue of desertification cannot be considered separately from the climate crisis since, as Mr. Gasparatos and Kairis point out, “everything is interconnected and one leads to the other”.

“We can’t just talk about desertification without talking about drought or drought that will actually lead to desertification. So maybe that’s why this whole problem is so difficult because it’s so multidimensional. Hotspot of the climate crisis is the Mediterranean, because it is not only the drought, it is also the rise in temperature. In this zone it is observed according to the models that we will have a rise in temperature, as well as a decrease in the available water from rainfall. Therefore, this follows the issue of desertification and land degradation”, Mr. Gasparatos notes to APE-MPE.

For his part, Mr. Kairis giving an interpretation to the phenomenon of desertification, emphasizes that it essentially constitutes the extreme degradation of the soil from any cause, whether this cause is an environmental factor, such as drought, or this cause is man-made , such as land resource management.

According to Mr. Gasparatos, the desertification of lands depends on many factors and differs from region to region. “Depending on the soil and climate conditions that prevail in some cases the pace will be fast and in others slower”, he points out while Mr. Kairis emphasizes that it depends on the degradation process, i.e. if the soil loss occurs due to erosion. “The main process for Greece is erosion, followed by soil salinization. So it depends which degradation process will lead us to desertification,” he notes.

According to Mr. Kairis, the threatened areas are hilly areas, sloping areas that are cultivated intensively, mountainous areas that are overgrazed, coastal areas where the sea has penetrated the underground aquifer, due to the intensive, excessive number and depth of drilling as well as those areas where no measures are taken after a catastrophic fire.

In fact, as it emerged from research by the Laboratory of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry of the Greek Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Research Center for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology of the Academy of Athens, the areas that are predicted to be most affected are the agricultural areas of the Thessalian plain. “In a recent publication resulting from the collaboration of the Laboratory of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry of the Greek Academy of Sciences in collaboration with the Research Center for Atmospheric Physics and Climatology of the Academy of Athens, we combined the classic methodology of Environmentally Sensitive Areas in Desertification with model-based scenarios of future climate conditions forecasting of greenhouse gas emissions (RCPs) 4.5. and 8.5. in the assessment of the future risk of desertification in characteristic agricultural areas of the Thessalian plain (Greece). The simulated data predicted that a significant portion of degraded slope lands designated as sensitive under current environmental conditions and land management practices will become critical areas for desertification in the near future. In addition, the degradation processes of soil water erosion and soil salinization will be strengthened by the deterioration of climatic conditions, promoting desertification”, says Mr. Kairis.

“The whole Mediterranean has desertification problems at the moment. This issue now also has an economic impact. A matter begins to concern us seriously when it can be valued in economic terms. No one knows how much the soil function is worth. But when they found out in the EU that about 1.3 billion was the loss of money due to corrosion alone, they realized that this is something very serious as it has a financial impact on the producers, so it is money that is being lost”, emphasizes Mr. Gasparatos.

At the same time, as they point out, the biggest problem from soil erosion is faced by grains.

“Loss of topsoil due to erosion reduces its ability to provide vital space for root growth, water storage and results in a 4% reduction in crop yield per 10cm of soil loss. Soil erosion also leads to the loss of organic matter and nutrients, and is therefore the greatest threat to the fertility, long-term productivity and overall biodiversity of soils. “Severe soil erosion in the EU leads to an annual production loss of 3 million tons of wheat and 0.6 million tons of maize, with the greatest losses in the Mediterranean countries (Italy, Spain, Greece), where these crops dominate”, underlines Mr. Gasparatos.

Kairis: The reconstitution of the National Committee on Desertification is necessary

Mr. Kairis in 2021 was a member of the National Committee against Desertification that was convened by decision of the Ministry of Rural Development and Food. The purpose of this committee, as explained by Mr. Kairis, was to redraw the desertification risk map of Greece. At the same time, however, he was called upon to contribute to the reformulation of the definition of the phenomenon of desertification. “The National Committee for Desertification must be reconstituted to continue the work already decided by the previous committee”, he notes to APE-MPE, emphasizing that cartographic and analytical data are the tip of the spear in soil research.

As he points out, the main task of the Commission was the updating of the National Desertification Risk Map of the territories in Greece which was issued in 2001 and needs immediate restructuring, and adds that on the basis of this map, the national action plan to combat desertification will also be updated.

Need for analytical qualitative and quantitative data, mapping and analyses

According to Mr. Gasparatos and Kairis, there are piecemeal policies to combat desertification, but there is no unified strategy. As Mr. Gasparatos points out, there is a need to record the health of land resources. “The laboratory has started and is doing it, but we need to approach multidimensional approaches because it is something very broad. It is therefore necessary to record the health of the soil resources but also their resilience against the factors of desertification”, he says characteristically, while Mr. Kairis reiterates the necessity for soil mapping.

With reference to the ways in which the extreme degradation of the lands can be avoided, according to Mr. Kairis, administratively, all the necessary measures must be taken so that the changes in the land system are slow. “Anything that intensifies cultivation increases the rate of change in soil conditions,” he emphasizes. For his part, Mr. Gasparatos points out that intensive crops that do not involve sustainable soil management can accelerate the phenomenon of desertification.

Extreme land degradation leading to land desertification has socio-economic implications

The desertification of the lands will have multiple effects on the producers as seeing their land producing less product they will simultaneously see a decrease in their income, according to Mr. Gasparato and Kairis.

“Extreme land degradation leading to land desertification, abandonment which has socio-economic implications. A producer who will not have an income from this particular land will leave it and that means the end, that we are losing this part of the production”, notes Mr. Kairis to APE-MPE, while for his part Mr. Gasparatos adds that we cannot afford to leave land lost to agricultural production. “We must sustainably exploit the existing territorial spaces or improve degraded ones and protect those potentially driven to degradation,” he emphasizes.

Forest fires and land desertification

The contribution of forest fires to the desertification of lands is also decisive as, as Mr. Kairis points out, fires strip lands of vegetation that has a certain quantitative limit and at the same time destroy the structure of the lands.

“As soon as we have bare ground it means we have unprotected ground. So with the first rainfall it will actually move soil particles. I remember what had happened in Mandra and what material had been transported due to the floods since the ground had first been exposed, it had been left bare without the protection of the vegetation”, points out Mr. Gasparatos from his side.

Climate “smart” agriculture is one of the solutions to deal with these conditions

According to Mr. Gasparatos, climate-smart agriculture is a relatively recent term introduced by the World Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with the main pillar being the adaptation of agricultural production and increasing its resistance to the climate crisis while simultaneously reducing contribution of the agricultural sector to climate change.

“It is a new effort that is being made. It is now the adaptation of crops or production to the conditions we are starting to live in and they are also more intense. The point is to be able to deal with these conditions”, Mr. Gasparatos points out.

It is noted that on December 4-6, 2023, the 16th Panhellenic Soil Congress will be held at the Agricultural University of Athens.