Quelle terre si sono andate progressivamente impoverendo

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La desertificazione nella letteratura
“Quelle terre si sono andate progressivamente impoverendo;
le foreste sono state tagliate, i fiumi si sono fatti torrenti, gli
animali si sono diradati, invece degli alberi e dei boschi, ci si
è ostinati a coltivare grano in terre inadatte. Non ci sono
capitali, non c’è industria, non c’è risparmio, non ci sono
scuole, l’emigrazione è diventata impossibile le tasse sono
insopportabili e sproporzionate: e dappertutto regna la
malaria. Tutto ciò è in buona parte il risultato delle buone
intenzioni e degli sforzi dello Stato, di uno Stato che non
sarà mai quello dei contadini, e che per essi ha creato
soltanto miseria e deserto.”
Cristo si è fermato ad Eboli
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Carlo
Levi
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Definizione di Desertificazione
secondo UNCCD
La desertificazione e’ il degrado delle terre
nelle zone aride, semi-aride e secche subumide dovuto a varie cause fra le quali i
cambiamenti climatici e le attivita’ umane
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Desertificazione
Gli ecosistemi aridi coprono un terzo del
territorio mondiale. Sono terreni molto
vulnerabili a causa di uno sfruttamento
eccessivo, e uso inappropriato del suolo. La
povertà,
l’instabilità
politica,
la
deforestazione, il sovrapascolo, e le pratiche
di irrigazione inappropriate sono tra le cause
principali.
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Desertificazione
La
desertificazione
colpisce
direttamente più di 250 milioni di
persone; circa un miliardo di persone in
oltre 100 paesi sono a rischio. Si tratta
di popolazioni tra le più povere del
mondo, marginalizzate e politicamente
deboli.
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UNCCD
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD) is one of the Post-Rio global environmental
conventions that is particularly relevant to the prevention
and control of land degradation, the promotion of
sustainable livelihoods and the enhancement of grass-roots
participation in local actions as well as in policy
development and decision making at higher levels of
governance. Consensus on land degradation as a global
environmental and sustainable development issue, as well
as the need for coordinated international action to address
it, led to the adoption of the UNCCD in June 1994.
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UNCCD
191 governments had joined the United Nations
Convention to Combat Desertification as at
September 2005. This Convention aims to promote
effective action through innovative local programmes
and supportive international partnerships.
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Desertificazione nel mondo
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(Map: Courtesy UNESCO)
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Regional Annexes
Countries
affected
by
desertification
are
implementing the Convention by developing and
carrying out national, subregional, and regional
action programmes. Criteria for preparing these
programmes are detailed in the treaty‘s five
“regional
implementation
annexes”:
Africa
(considered a priority because that is where
desertification is most severe), Asia, Latin America
and the Caribbean, the Northern Mediterranean,
and Central and Eastern Europe.
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Desertificazione in Africa
73% di tutte le terre aride in Africa sono affette da
desertificazione.
La maggior parte della popolazione vive di agricoltura e di
pastorizia
La povertà è spesso causa di degrado, poiché i contadini e i
pastori sono costretti a sfruttare in modo eccessivo il territorio.
Deforestazione, pratiche agricole sbabliate possono
diventare cause dirette di desertificazione, aumentando la
povertà e l’insicurezza alimentare in un circolo vizioso.
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L’annesso IV dell’UNCCD
The Northern Mediterranean region is a complex
mosaic of diversified landscapes. It has been settled
and cultivated for millennia by various cultures and
civilizations. Much of the region is semi-arid and subject to
seasonal droughts with high rainfall variability or sudden
intense downpours. It is also marked by high population
densities, heavy concentrations of industry, and intensive
agriculture. Although people here often use the term
“desert”, they do so in the sense of wilderness, lack of
population, or isolation.
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L’annesso IV dell’UNCCD
Mediterranean land degradation is often linked to
poor agricultural practices. Soils become salinized, dry,
sterile, and unproductive in response to a combination of
natural hazards - droughts, floods, forest fires - and
human-controlled activities, notably overtilling and
overgrazing. The situation has been aggravated by the
social and economic crisis in traditional agriculture in
recent years and the resulting migration of people from
rural to urban areas. The result is abandoned land,
particularly on marginal and easily eroded hillsides, and
weakened agricultural planning and land management.
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L’annesso IV dell’UNCCD
The modern economy is also contributing to the
problem. Fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, contamination
by heavy metals, and the introduction of exotic (invasive)
plant species is undermining the long-term health of the
region‘s soils. Physical changes imposed on watercourses
by the construction of reservoirs, the canalization of rivers,
and the drainage of wetlands are affecting land quality.
Meanwhile, groundwater levels are declining widely,
resulting among other things in salt-water intrusion into
coastal aquifers. Some 80 percent of the region‘s
available freshwater is used for irrigation.
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L’annesso IV dell’UNCCD
Among the Northern Mediterranean affected
country Parties, seven are members of the
European Union. Thus the fourth regional
implementation annex offers concrete opportunities
for strengthening mutual cooperation and more
effective national action. The European Community,
France, Monaco and Israel are participating in the
subregional and regional processes as observers
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L’annesso IV dell’UNCCD
A subregional group (Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey) has
already prepared the terms of reference and is in the process of
launching a Subregional Action Programme (SRAP). A regional
consultative mechanism was established with the assistance of the
UNCCD secretariat. At the regional level, activities are being
undertaken particularly through the establishment of regional thematic
networks for scientific cooperation, organization of workshop on
technology and know how, development of mechanisms for exchanges
of information and documentation and organization of regional training
courses. In addition to intraregional cooperation, the Fourth Annex calls
on its members to cooperate with other regions and subregions (Central
and Eastern Europe for example), and particularly with the developing
countries of Northern Africa
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Livelli di interazioni tra i fattori biofisici e
antropici della desertificazione
International /Global
Globe
Regional/Bilateral
Continent
National
Biome
Provincial
Land cover
Community
Management
Household
Land Manager
Field/Ecosystem
Plant
Ecosystem
Good/Services
Leaf
Il cammino e’ appena iniziato....
Conclusioni
Grazie per la vostra attenzione
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