The Mediterranean basin, which has always represented a transition zone between the desert areas of Africa and Asia and the temperate European zones, is currently affected by a significant reduction in precipitation, as well as by an increase in temperature. In the last decade, in fact, has seen alternating times of drought to extreme events, signs of alteration of environmental equilibrium, input of a process of desertification. In the patchwork of systems that characterize the Mediterranean region, climatic factors, morpho-soil, vegetation and man are responsible for desertification risk and in different measurement and functions in different geographical and socio-economic contexts and depend on the local perception of the process. Land degradation, its main responsibility, is caused by unsustainable agricultural practices and inappropriate to soil type and morphology in order to render the restricted areas and low productivity, in addition to that the exodus from rural areas to the coastal strip caused by the crisis in the agricultural sector or by changes in the social structure of the population, has created further complications. No less responsible is intensive agriculture and the introduction of invasive crops, giving conditions of stress and loss of native species. The primary sector, however, is not solely responsible for the desertification process, in fact, participate productive activities such as tourism, industry, urbanization, with all the impacts and pollution linked to them. The environment in its totality and systematic, should be thought of as a resource and as such lead the process of human development. Much of that development in a region such as Calabria, called the Agriculture, whose primary resource is the soil that, as such, should be safeguarded and respected. Often confused by the idea of protecting the resources, we forget that they are such in terms of their usefulness to humans, if in considering the ground we reflect on what we realize that the resources of our development process is not the ground as such, but the use of land by the productive system. On the concept of sustainable use of soil is based testing conducted is based in Calabria, who has done some hilly areas degraded band Ionic potentially productive areas. This neogenesis, after a long alternation of morphostasi and morphogenesis, is triggered by a sustainable use of soil. Making use of the areas covered by the intervention of crop conversion from corn to grass-grazing leads to a new paradigm, transforming places become a symbol of decay in models for a new future. The rural landscape has been designed and redesigned with how and when man and nature. The man has faced environmental challenges adapting to nature according to culture and vocations conditioning territorial space and transforming it. New crops included in geosistema adapted the environment to human needs, leaving deep scars and irreversible. The goal is to make these signs a new paradigm for a different land uses, which looks to the future with an eye to the past by retrieving it from crops and cultivation techniques, which model replicable in other areas. There are many experiences and studies done in Italy in this direction. Having regard to the multidisciplinary nature and diversity of the forces triggering the process and given the complexity of the phenomena affecting desertification, the results obtained from these experiences, on a scale spatial and temporal, must become an operational tool to support practitioners and policy makers in order to plan in each sector to which we aspire in the near future as well as common awareness to the entire population.
Il Bacino del Mediterraneo, che da sempre rappresenta una zona di transizione tra le aree desertiche asiatiche ed africane e quelle temperate europee, è attualmente interessato da una notevole riduzione delle precipitazioni, oltreché da un aumento della temperatura. Nell’ultimo decennio, infatti, ha visto alternarsi momenti di siccità ad eventi estremi, segni evidenti di un’alterazione degli equilibri ambientali, input di un processo di desertificazione. Nel mosaico di sistemi che caratterizza l’area mediterranea, fattori climatici, morfo-pedologici, vegetazionali e antropici sono responsabili del rischio desertificazione in misura e funzione differenti nei diversi contesti geografici e socio-economici e dipendono dalla percezione locale del processo. Il degrado dei suoli, suo principale responsabile, è determinato da pratiche agricole non sostenibili o non adatte al tipo di suolo e di morfologia così da rendere le aree sterili e scarsamente produttive; in aggiunta a ciò l’esodo dalle zone rurali verso la fascia costiera, causato dalla crisi del settore agricolo o dai cambiamenti nella struttura sociale della popolazione, ha creato ulteriori complicanze. Non meno responsabile è l’agricoltura intensiva e l’introduzione di colture invasive, che determinano condizioni di stress e perdita di specie autoctone. Il settore primario, tuttavia, non è il solo responsabile del processo di desertificazione, infatti, vi concorrono attività produttive quali: il turismo, l’industria e l’urbanizzazione, con tutti gli impatti e gli inquinamenti ad esse legati. L’ambiente, nella sua totalità e sistematicità, va pensato come risorsa ed in quanto tale come protagonista del processo di sviluppo umano. Gran parte del suddetto sviluppo in una regione come la Calabria, prende il nome di agricoltura, di cui la risorsa primaria è il suolo che, in quanto tale, va tutelato e rispettato. Spesso, confusi dall’idea di tutela delle risorse, dimentichiamo che esse sono tali in funzione della loro utilità per l’uomo; se nel considerare il suolo riflettiamo su ciò, possiamo renderci conto che la risorsa del nostro processo di sviluppo non è il suolo in quanto tale, ma l’uso del suolo da parte del sistema produttivo. Sul concetto di uso sostenibile del suolo si basa la sperimentazione condotta in Calabria, che ha fatto, di alcune aree collinari degradate della fascia ionica, aree potenzialmente produttive. Tale neogenesi, dopo una lunga alternanza di morfostasi e morfogenesi, è innescata da un uso sostenibile del suolo. La valorizzazione delle aree oggetto dell’intervento di riconversione colturale da grano a prato-pascolo porta ad un nuovo paradigma, trasformare luoghi diventati simbolo di degrado in modelli per un nuovo futuro. Il paesaggio rurale è stato disegnato e si ridisegna con i modi e i tempi dell’uomo e della natura. L’uomo ha fronteggiato le sfide ambientali adattandosi alla natura a seconda della cultura e delle vocazioni territoriali condizionando lo spazio e trasformandolo. Le nuove colture inserite nel geosistema hanno adattato l’ambiente naturale alle esigenze umane, lasciando segni profondi e irreversibili. L’obiettivo è fare di questi segni un nuovo paradigma per un diverso uso del suolo, che guarda al futuro con un occhio al passato recuperando da esso colture e tecniche di coltivazione, quale modello replicabile in altre aree. Molte sono le esperienze e gli studi fatti in Italia in questa direzione. Visti il carattere multidisciplinare e la diversità delle forze scatenanti il processo e considerata la complessità dei fenomeni che interessano la desertificazione, i risultati ottenuti da tali esperienze, su scala spaziale e temporale, devono diventare uno strumento operativo di supporto a operatori e decisori politici, nell’ambito della pianificazione in ogni settore, a cui aspirare in un prossimo futuro, nonché consapevolezza comune all’intera popolazione.
Desertificazione nel Bacino del Mediterraneo: un esempio in Calabria
RONCONI, Maria Luisa
2010-01-01
Abstract
The Mediterranean basin, which has always represented a transition zone between the desert areas of Africa and Asia and the temperate European zones, is currently affected by a significant reduction in precipitation, as well as by an increase in temperature. In the last decade, in fact, has seen alternating times of drought to extreme events, signs of alteration of environmental equilibrium, input of a process of desertification. In the patchwork of systems that characterize the Mediterranean region, climatic factors, morpho-soil, vegetation and man are responsible for desertification risk and in different measurement and functions in different geographical and socio-economic contexts and depend on the local perception of the process. Land degradation, its main responsibility, is caused by unsustainable agricultural practices and inappropriate to soil type and morphology in order to render the restricted areas and low productivity, in addition to that the exodus from rural areas to the coastal strip caused by the crisis in the agricultural sector or by changes in the social structure of the population, has created further complications. No less responsible is intensive agriculture and the introduction of invasive crops, giving conditions of stress and loss of native species. The primary sector, however, is not solely responsible for the desertification process, in fact, participate productive activities such as tourism, industry, urbanization, with all the impacts and pollution linked to them. The environment in its totality and systematic, should be thought of as a resource and as such lead the process of human development. Much of that development in a region such as Calabria, called the Agriculture, whose primary resource is the soil that, as such, should be safeguarded and respected. Often confused by the idea of protecting the resources, we forget that they are such in terms of their usefulness to humans, if in considering the ground we reflect on what we realize that the resources of our development process is not the ground as such, but the use of land by the productive system. On the concept of sustainable use of soil is based testing conducted is based in Calabria, who has done some hilly areas degraded band Ionic potentially productive areas. This neogenesis, after a long alternation of morphostasi and morphogenesis, is triggered by a sustainable use of soil. Making use of the areas covered by the intervention of crop conversion from corn to grass-grazing leads to a new paradigm, transforming places become a symbol of decay in models for a new future. The rural landscape has been designed and redesigned with how and when man and nature. The man has faced environmental challenges adapting to nature according to culture and vocations conditioning territorial space and transforming it. New crops included in geosistema adapted the environment to human needs, leaving deep scars and irreversible. The goal is to make these signs a new paradigm for a different land uses, which looks to the future with an eye to the past by retrieving it from crops and cultivation techniques, which model replicable in other areas. There are many experiences and studies done in Italy in this direction. Having regard to the multidisciplinary nature and diversity of the forces triggering the process and given the complexity of the phenomena affecting desertification, the results obtained from these experiences, on a scale spatial and temporal, must become an operational tool to support practitioners and policy makers in order to plan in each sector to which we aspire in the near future as well as common awareness to the entire population.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
