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DESIRE: Desertification Mitigation & Remediation of Land (EU Framework 6) |
Project
Title: Desertification Mitigation & Remediation of Land (DESIRE): a
global approach for local solutions
Role: Workblock Leader
Status: Ongoing
Duration: 2006-2011
Funding Body: EU Framework 6 Integrated Project
Amount: 9 million Euros (300K in Leeds)
Collaborators:
Alterra (Netherlands); Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium); University of
Leeds (United Kingdom); University of Wales Swansea (United Kingdom); Centre
for Development and Environment; University Bern (Switzerland); Estacion
Experimental de Zonas Aridas (Spain); University of Aveiro (Portugal); CNR
Research Institute for Hydrogeological Protection (Italy); Agricultural
University of Athens (Greece); Eskisehir Osmangazi University (Turkey);
University of Mohamed V, Chair UNESCO-GN (Morocco); Institut des Regions Arides
(Tunisia); Institut for Soil and Water Conservation (China); Wageningen
University (Netherlands); Democritus University of Thrace (Greece); BothEnds
(Netherlands); ISRIC (Netherlands); Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra
(Portugal); CARI (France); University of Botswana (Botswana); ITC
(Netherlands); IRD (France); Cornell University (USA); Deakin University
(Australia); MEDES (Italy); MSUEE (Russia).
Project Description:
Fragile
arid and semi-arid ecosystems are in urgent need of integrated conservation
approaches that can contribute significantly to prevent and reduce the
widespread on-going land degradation and desertification processes, such as
erosion, flooding, overgrazing, drought, and salinization. The DESIRE project
will establish promising alternative land use and management conservation
strategies based on a close participation of scientists with stakeholder groups
in the degradation and desertification hotspots around the world. This
integrative participatory approach ensures both the acceptability and
feasibility of conservation techniques, and a sound scientific basis for the
effectiveness at various scales. DESIRE employs a bottom up approach such as is
favoured by the UNCCD: i) degradation and desertification hotspots and
stakeholder groups will be identified in all countries surrounding the
Mediterranean, and in 6 external nations facing similar environmental problems,
ii) desertification indicator sets will be defined in a participatory approach
and a harmonized information system will be constructed to organize
socio-economic and geoinformation data and tools for active dissemination; iii)
new and existing conservation strategies will be defined with the stakeholder
communities; iv) these strategies will be implemented in the field, and
monitored and modeled to quantify their effectiveness at various scales; v) the
results will be extrapolated using indicator sets, geoinformation data, and
integrated modeling systems combining socio-economic and environmental aspects;
vi) finally the results will be translated to a series of practical guidelines
for good agricultural practices and environmental management, which will be
disseminated to practitioners, agricultural extensionists, governmental
authorities, policy makers, NGOs, land users, land owners, and local
communities.
Project Website:
Project Documents:
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