LEDDRA

Land and Ecosystem Degradation and Desertification: Assessing the Fit of Responses

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'LEDDRA aims to advance the comprehensive study of the socio-environmental fit of responses to land and ecosystem degradation and desertification (LEDD) in various contexts. It adopts the ecosystem approach and an integrated methodology with continuous feedbacks between theory, methods and applications. It focuses on response assemblages (combinations of response types and prevailing environmental, socio-economic and institutional conditions that contribute to or detract from sustainable land management and societal welfare), the associated costs and benefits to diverse stakeholders, barriers to and opportunities for adoption, and knowledge transfer processes. Optimal response assemblages comprise coordinated, mutually supportive and complementary measures that preserve the ecological and the community resilience of affected areas. LEDDRA develops the theory of responses to LEDD, in general, and in cropland, grazing land and forests/shrubland, in particular, and the study of knowledge transfer for diverse stakeholder types. It negotiates the links between land degradation, ecosystem services decline and biodiversity change, the links between biophysical and human determinants, welfare impacts, and responses to drought (drought preparedness). It improves existing and develops new integrated methodologies for assessing the impacts and fit of various types of responses to LEDD and the socio-ecological vulnerability of affected regions, and for identifying response assemblages in different European and other cultural-institutional contexts drawing on applications in selected sites in EU and ICPC countries. It analyzes the policy context to offer recommendations for policy and land management actions at the international, EU and national levels. To better organize, show case, disseminate and add value to project results, a web-based information system will be developed to make findings accessible to a wide range of stakeholders with different levels of expertise.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

An EU project looked into the most effective ways to limit or stop desertification and degradation of ecosystems.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Land and ecosystem degradation and desertification (LEDD) occurs when resource-exploiting human activities, driven by economic, socio-cultural and institutional forces, degrade land resources under adverse biophysical conditions. If left uncontrolled, degradation/desertification causes decline of ecosystem services and unwanted socio-economic impacts that hamper the achievement of sustainable development and increase the vulnerability of affected regions. Human responses to LEDD are planned and/or unplanned actions which purport to either directly combat LEDD and/or address other socio-economic problems.

The EU-funded http://leddra.aegean.gr/ (LEDDRA) (Land and ecosystem degradation and desertification: assessing the fit of responses) project aimed to develop a comprehensive framework to analyse the socio-ecological fit of human responses to LEDD. LEDDRA introduced the notion of the ?response assemblage? (RA) denoting the dynamic, multi-level, two-way relationship between LEDD and responses to LEDD within their biophysical, socio-cultural and institutional context.

Optimal RAs (ORA) comprise mutually supportive, complementary and coordinated response measures that are fit to the environmental and socio-economic conditions of affected regions in the sense that they preserve their socio-ecological resilience. This means that they produce beneficial and avert detrimental environmental and socio-economic impacts.

LEDDRA produced a holistic conceptual framework to guide the study of the socio-ecological fit of responses to LEDD in cropland, grazing land and forest settings. It also developed a comprehensive theory of responses to LEDD and an integrated methodology and pertinent assessment methods/techniques to assess the socio-ecological fit of responses to LEDD and to design ORAs.

In addition, LEDDRA produced ten Study Site Applications (Italy, Greece, Spain, China, Morocco) and an analysis of international, EU and national environmental and development policies. It also conducted an evaluation of their implementation at the 10 study sites and policy recommendations towards the goal of combatting LEDD.

The LEDDRA research findings contribute significantly to the sustainable management of land resources, rational land use planning in affected areas and policy making at the international (UNCCD), EU and the national level.