Map of Long-Term Changes in Land Sensitivity to Degradation of Italy

The study introduces a map of the long-term changes in the level of land sensitivity to degradation for Italy, presented at a scale of 1:1,300,000. According to the Environmental Sensitive Area (ESA) approach, the national territory was divided into different classes of land sensitivity by assigning a score based on the observed changes in four themes (climate, soil, vegetation and land management) related to land degradation processes. The observed increase in the level of land sensitivity was rapid and spatially heterogeneous and reflects the decrease in land quality mainly due to human-derived landscape transformations. Maps illustrating the change in land sensitivity over a sufficiently long time period should be developed at country scale as a contribution to monitoring and dissemination of scientific results in the framework of the 'Zero Net' Land Degradation strategy introduced by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.