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Our ecosystems are facing changes at a local andglobal scale because of human interventions. These transformations are a result of drastic urbanization, rapid industrialization, and natural resources exploitation to provide livelihoods and commodities for the increasing population. Recent global events such as the COVID-19 pandemic or cross-bordering conflicts are not delaying these changes. To understand these changes, increasing efforts of the scientific community to find sustainable solutions is vital as it is consistent financial support from governments and scientific agencies. Air, Soil and Water Research (ASW) Editorial Board envision multidisciplinary and transversal research as an interesting strategy to develop knowledge and useful datasets which can directly benefit society through efficient land management plans.

Land degradation and, subsequently, desertification processes are conditioned by biophysical factors and human impacts. Nowadays, there is an increasing interest by social scientists to assess its implications. Especially, it is relevant to the potential changes and landscape deterioration on population, economic systems and feedbacks of local societies to such adjustments. Assessing social facets should also be related to desertification risks, integrated socio-economic inputs and environmentally sustainable development perspectives. However, investigations about the effects of land degradation conditioned by global socioeconomic-factors from a holistic point of view are scarce. In this review, we pretend to discuss past and recent findings on land degradation risks related to poverty, especially based on Mediterranean Europe. To achieve this goal, we focused on key socioeconomic forces such as developmental policy, production and market structure, social change and population mobility. Our review showed that regional disparities based on complex dynamics of demographic forces (e.g. migration, fertility and ageing) and economic drivers of change (e.g. industrial concentration, urbanization, crop intensification, tourism pressure, coastalization) are keys to understand Mediterranean regions such as Southern Italy, a region exposed to high desertification risk in Europe. We concluded that the overexploitation of territories, soil and water degradation urban expansion, tourism and unplanned industrialization are some sectors and activities which can be highly affected by political and socioeconomic forces leading to unsustainable forms of land management and types of development. Special attention should be paid to social policies, education and training schemes to reduce rural migration and potentiate territorial knowledge to avoid land degradation, considering other social issues such as poverty or centralization. The potential role of win-win policies abating poverty and reducing desertification risk is evident ...

Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada/CBUA. This research was funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no 603498 (RECARE project). Artemi Cerda thanks the Co-operative Research programme from the OECD (Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems) for its support with the 2016 CRP fellowship (OCDE TAD/CRP JA00088807). ; The main goal of this research was to conduct a biophysical, economic, social, and perception-based approach to foresee the solutions that could be used to mitigate the soil loss problem cost-effectively in "La Ribera del Xúquer" district (Valencia Region, Spain). To achieve these goals, a farmer perception survey was carried out, and an assessment of the biophysical impact of catch crops on soil organic matter, bulk density, steady-state infiltration rate (double-ring infiltrometer) and runoff generation, and soil erosion (rainfall simulation experiments) was carried out in 2016. For the biophysical approach, two paired plots, i.e., catch crops vs. glyphosate herbicide treatment (in advance, control plot), were selected under clementine citrus production. The results show that soil organic matter increased from 1.14 to 1.63%, and bulk density decreased from 1.47 to 1.27 g cm− 3 after 10 years of treatments using catch crops. They also facilitated higher infiltration rates from 16.7 to 171 mm h− 1 and a delay in runoff generation from 149 to 654 s for control and catch crop plots. Both runoff rates (from 50.6 to 3.1%) and soil erosion (from 3.9 to 0.04 Mg ha− 1 h− 1) were reduced once the catch crops were deployed in the field. After surveying (2018–2019), farmers stated the use of catch crops as a speck of dirt and a cause of possible loss of reputation when used. Moreover, farmers (N = 73) would accept the catch crops as an effective nature-based alternative only if a subsidy of 131.17€ ha− 1 would be paid. The survey results also demonstrated that the farmers' community would see catch crop more as a benefit for the planet's health and society. Few constraints, such as ageing of the farmers' population, lack of education and negative perception for other management factors, are the critical detrimental factors for adopting catch crops as a nature-based solution to reduce soil and water losses. There is a need for an effective agrarian extension service to change the fate of the current agriculture and achieve sustainability by adopting new management strategies in contemporary agricultural practices. ; Universidad de Granada/CBUA ; European Commission 603498 ; Co-operative Research programme from the OECD (Biological Resource Management for Sustainable Agricultural Systems) OCDE TAD/CRP JA00088807

Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- About the Authors -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 The Quest for Sustainable Cities -- 1.2 Sustainable Urban Forms -- 1.3 From Land to Landscape -- 1.4 Green Policies and Quality of Life -- References -- 2 Toward a Sustainable Use of Land: Urbanization, Policies and (Mis)Understanding of Degradation Processes -- 2.1 International and European Policies -- 2.1.1 European Union Policies for Soil Protection -- 2.1.2 European Urban Agenda: Sustainable Land Use and Nature-Based Solutions -- 2.1.3 United Nations Guidelines for Sustainable Land Use -- 2.1.4 Institutional Tools to Combat Land Degradation in Southern Europe -- 2.2 Quality, Biophysical Degradation, Soil Sealing: Research and Experiences -- 2.2.1 What Is Land Quality? -- 2.2.2 Characteristics and Main Causes of Land Degradation -- 2.2.3 Why Land Degradation and Soil Sealing Are Connected? -- 2.2.4 The Worn Landscape -- 2.3 The Case of Italy -- References -- 3 Mediterranean Europe, a Fragile Landscape: Metropolitan Growth and Urban Sprawl -- 3.1 The Intrinsic Fragility of Semi-Natural Landscapes in the Mediterranean Basin -- 3.2 From Dispersed Cities to Metropolitan Networks -- 3.3 The Mediterranean City as an Entropic and Disorder Space -- 3.4 Three Protagonists of Urban Sprawl -- 3.4.1 Settlement and Morphological Aspects -- 3.4.2 Socio-Economic Aspects -- 3.4.3 Transforming Urban Europe: The Mediterranean Lesson -- References -- 4 What Type of Soil Was Consumed in the Metropolis of the Mediterranean Area? Land Quality and the Forms of Urbanization -- 4.1 The Link Between Forms of Urban Expansion and Land Quality -- 4.2 Survey Tools -- 4.2.1 Soil Quality Index -- 4.2.2 Climate Quality Index -- 4.2.3 Vegetation Quality Index -- 4.3 Study Area -- 4.4 Results -- References -- 5 Preserving Land Quality in European Metropolis -- 5.1 Management and Governance Aspects.

"Renewed theoretical frameworks for planning, permanent monitoring and quantitative indicators based on official statistics, geographic information systems and remote sensing allow an inclusive and holistic representation of socioeconomic systems worldwide. By specifically focusing on metropolitan regions, this book offers a comprehensive analysis and interpretation of socioeconomic and territorial processes hampering spatial planning in Southern Europe, offering a theoretical and practical overview of topics and problems of great interest in the urban debate. Cities in the most advanced economies are progressively abandoning spatially additive, radio-centric patterns of urban expansion. The notion of 'city-regions' is meaningful for the understanding of contemporary urban agglomerations and modern patterns of urban growth, adopting a specific, 'Mediterranean' perspective. Understanding the reasons and causes behind this transition provides for a better comprehension of economic dynamics in Europe. Addressing the role of sustainability and resilience for urban management, this book offers a thorough reflection on how to manage large city-regions and to support the planning practices and governing action of policy makers and stakeholders. Through practical examples and case studies, the book finally proposes new statistics, indicators, and interpretative approaches, stimulating a thorough reflection on interrelation and complexity of local development mechanisms from different disciplinary perspectives"--

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Preface -- Table of Contents -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Smart Districts, Smart Landscapes? -- 3. Landscape Resilience and Territorial Dynamics in Inner Areas Affected by Landslides -- 4. Rural Resilience Landscapes and Farmers' Perception Facing Land Degradation Due to Soil Erosion in the Mediterranean: The Use of Nature-based Solutions for Cultivated Land -- 5. Attitudes and Behavior of the Society of Mytilene Island, Greece towards Refugee-Immigrant Issue -- 6. Population Contexts, Economic Crisis, and the Non-Demographic Policy Implementation in Greece -- 7. Can European Mechanisms Contribute to the Effective Control of the Phenomenon of Political Budget Cycles? The Case of Greece -- 8. Fact or Myth? The Modifiable Area Unit Problem (MAUP) in Measuring Residential Segregation of Foreigners in Italy -- 9. Resilience, Talent Attraction, and Brain Drain since the 2008 Economic Crisis in Spanish Regions -- 10. Setting-up the Public Space: From the Temporary use of the City to user-centered Design for Resilient Communities -- Index.

This research was funded partially by the Central University of Ecuador and by the projects RESERVOIR (PRIMA programme supported by the European Union under grant agreement no. 1924) and BBVA2021-Leonardo2 along with local companies (projects Comunidad Regantes 220-I and Comunidad Regantes 1-20T). Antonio Jodar-Abellan acknowledges financial support received from the project BBVA2021-Leonardo2. In the same way, this work has been conducted within the Catedra del Agua of the University of Alicante (catedradelaguaua.org). Moreover, authors acknowledge the reviewers of the manuscript whose comments contributed greatly to improve this paper. ; Non-planned agricultural land abandonment is affecting natural hydrological processes. This is especially relevant in vulnerable arid karstic watersheds, where water resources are scarce but vital for sustaining natural ecosystems and human settlements.However, studies assessing the spatiotemporal evolution of the hydrological responses considering land-use changes and precipitation cycles for long periods are rare in karstic environments. In this research, we selected a representative karstic watershed in a Mediterranean semiarid domain, since in this belt, karst environments are prone to land degradation processes due to human impacts. Geographic Information Systems-based tools and hydrological modeling considering daily time steps were combined with temporal analysis of climate variables (wavelet analysis) to demonstrate possible interactions and vulnerable responses. Observed daily flow data were used to calibrate/ validate these hydrological models by applying statistic indicators such as the NSE efficiency and a selfdeveloped index (the ANSE index). This new index could enhance goodness-of-fit measurements obtained with traditional statistics during the model optimization. We hypothesize that this is key to adding new inputs to this research line. Our results revealed that: i) changes in the type of sclerophyllous vegetation (Quercus calliprinos, ilex, rotundifolia, suber, etc.) from 81.5% during the initial stage (1990) to natural grasslands by 81.6% (2018); and, ii) decreases in agricultural areas (crops) by approximately 60% and their transformation into coniferous forests, rock outcrops, sparsely natural grasslands, etc. in the same period. Consequently, increases in the curve number (CN) rateswere identified as a result of land abandonment. As a result, an increase in peak flow events jointlywith a relevant decrease of the average flow rates (water scarcity) in the watershed was predicted by the HEC-HMS model and verified through the observed data. This research provides useful information about the effects of anthropogenic changes in the hydrodynamic behaviour of karstic watersheds andwater resource impacts, especially key in water-scarce areas that depict important hazards for the water supply of related populations and natural ecosystems. ; Central University of Ecuador ; European Commission 1924 ; Comunidad de Madrid 220-I ; Catedra del Agua of the University of Alicante

Non-planned agricultural land abandonment is affecting natural hydrological processes. This is especially relevant in vulnerable arid karstic watersheds, where water resources are scarce but vital for sustaining natural ecosystems and human settlements. However, studies assessing the spatiotemporal evolution of the hydrological responses considering land-use changes and precipitation cycles for long periods are rare in karstic environments. In this research, we selected a representative karstic watershed in a Mediterranean semiarid domain, since in this belt, karst environments are prone to land degradation processes due to human impacts. Geographic Information Systems-based tools and hydrological modeling considering daily time steps were combined with temporal analysis of climate variables (wavelet analysis) to demonstrate possible interactions and vulnerable responses. Observed daily flow data were used to calibrate/validate these hydrological models by applying statistic indicators such as the NSE efficiency and a self-developed index (the ANSE index). This new index could enhance goodness-of-fit measurements obtained with traditional statistics during the model optimization. We hypothesize that this is key to adding new inputs to this research line. Our results revealed that: i) changes in the type of sclerophyllous vegetation (Quercus calliprinos, ilex, rotundifolia, suber, etc.) from 81.5% during the initial stage (1990) to natural grasslands by 81.6% (2018); and, ii) decreases in agricultural areas (crops) by approximately 60% and their transformation into coniferous forests, rock outcrops, sparsely natural grasslands, etc. in the same period. Consequently, increases in the curve number (CN) rates were identified as a result of land abandonment. As a result, an increase in peak flow events jointly with a relevant decrease of the average flow rates (water scarcity) in the watershed was predicted by the HEC-HMS model and verified through the observed data. This research provides useful information about the effects of anthropogenic changes in the hydrodynamic behaviour of karstic watersheds and water resource impacts, especially key in water-scarce areas that depict important hazards for the water supply of related populations and natural ecosystems. ; This research was funded partially by the Central University of Ecuador and by the projects RESERVOIR (PRIMA programme supported by the European Union under grant agreement No 1924) and BBVA2021-Leonardo2 along with local companies (projects Comunidad Regantes 2-20I and Comunidad Regantes 1-20T). Antonio Jodar-Abellan acknowledges financial support received from the project BBVA2021-Leonardo2. In the same way, this work has been conducted within the Cátedra del Agua of the University of Alicante (catedradelaguaua.org).

A complex interplay of socio-ecological drivers of change exists at the different spatiotemporal scales affecting environmental degradation. This is a key issue worldwide and needs to be understood to develop efficient management solutions. One of the most applied theories in the regional analysis is the U-shaped relationship between environmental degradation and the level of income in a given economic system or Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC). Specifically, the EKC hypothesis underlines the (potentially positive) role of formal responses to environmental degradation grounded on government policies that are usually more ambitious in wealthier economic systems. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the role of space in EKC, arguing that spatial variability in the environment-income relationship may indicate additional targets for integrated socio-environmental policies. We hypothesize that a spatially differentiated response to environmental degradation could better adapt to differentiated local contexts. Therefore, to achieve this goal, we present a multi-scale investigation of degradation processes at the local level, providing a refined knowledge of the environment-economy linkages considering more traditional, cross-country and cross-region exercises. Our results demonstrated that-together with temporal, sectoral, and institutional aspects-space and, consequently, the related analysis' spatial scales, are significant dimensions in ecological economics, whose investigation requires improvements in data collection and dedicated statistical approaches.

[EN] To understand soil erosion processes, it is vital to know how the weather types and atmospheric situations, and their distribution throughout the year, affect the soil erosion rates. This will allow for the development of efficient land management practices to mitigate water-induced soil losses. Vineyards are one of the cultivated areas susceptible to high soil erosion rates. However, there is a lack of studies that link weather types and atmospheric conditions to soil erosion responses in viticultural areas. Thus, the main aim of this research is to assess the impacts of weather types and atmospheric conditions on soil erosion processes in a conventional vineyard with tillage in eastern Spain. To achieve this goal, rainfall events from 2006 to 2017 were monitored and the associated runoff and soil loss were collected from experimental plots. Our results showed that the highest volume of runoff and soil erosion is linked to rainfall associated with the eastern winds that accounted for 59.7% of runoff and 63.9% of soil loss, while cold drops in the atmospheric situation classifications emerged as the highest contributor of 40.9% in runoff and 44.1% in soil loss. This paper provides new insights into the development of soil erosion control measures that help to mitigate the negative impact of extreme rainfall and runoff considering atmospheric conditions. ; This research was funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant No. 603498 (RECARE Project). ; Rodrigo-Comino, J.; Senciales-González, JM.; Terol, E.; Mora Navarro, JG.; Gyasi-Agyei, Y.; Cerdà, A. (2020). Impacts of Weather Types on Soil Erosion Rates in Vineyards at "Celler Del Roure" Experimental Research in Eastern Spain. Atmosphere. 11(6):1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11060551 ; S ; 1 ; 14 ; 11 ; 6 ; Panagos, P., Borrelli, P., Meusburger, K., van der Zanden, E. H., Poesen, J., & Alewell, C. (2015). Modelling the effect of support practices (P-factor) on the reduction of soil erosion by water at European ...

Rainfall is the key factor to understand soil erosion processes, mechanisms, and rates. Most research was conducted to determine rainfall characteristics and their relationship with soil erosion (erosivity) but there is little information about how atmospheric patterns control soil losses, and this is important to enable sustainable environmental planning and risk prevention. We investigated the temporal and spatial variability of the relationships of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield with atmospheric patterns (weather types, WTs) in the western Mediterranean basin. For this purpose, we analyzed a large database of rainfall events collected between 1985 and 2015 in 46 experimental plots and catchments with the aim to: (i) evaluate seasonal differences in the contribution of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield produced by the WTs; and (ii) to analyze the seasonal efficiency of the different WTs (relation frequency and magnitude) related to rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield. The results indicate two different temporal patterns: the first weather type exhibits (during the cold period: autumn and winter) westerly flows that produce the highest rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield values throughout the territory; the second weather type exhibits easterly flows that predominate during the warm period (spring and summer) and it is located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. However, the cyclonic situations present high frequency throughout the whole year with a large influence extended around the western Mediterranean basin. Contrary, the anticyclonic situations, despite of its high frequency, do not contribute significantly to the total rainfall, runoff, and sediment (showing the lowest efficiency) because of atmospheric stability that currently characterize this atmospheric pattern. Our approach helps to better understand the relationship of WTs on the seasonal and spatial variability of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield with a regional scale based on the large dataset and number of soil erosion experimental stations. ; Spanish Government (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MINECO) and FEDER Projects: CGL2014 52135-C3-3-R, ESP2017-89463-C3-3-R, CGL2014-59946-R, CGL2015-65569-R, CGL2015-64284-C2-2-R, CGL2015-64284-C2-1-R, CGL2016-78075-P, GL2008-02879/BTE, LEDDRA 243857, RECARE-FP7, CGL2017-83866-C3-1-R, and PCIN-2017-061/AEI. Dhais Peña-Angulo received a "Juan de la Cierva" postdoctoral contract (FJCI-2017-33652 Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, MEC). Ana Lucia acknowledge the "Brigitte-Schlieben-Lange-Programm". The "Geoenvironmental Processes and Global Change" (E02_17R) was financed by the Aragón Government and the European Social Fund. José Andrés López-Tarazón acknowledges the Secretariat for Universities and Research of the Department of the Economy and Knowledge of the Autonomous Government of Catalonia for supporting the Consolidated Research Group 2014 SGR 645 (RIUS- Fluvial Dynamics Research Group). Artemi Cerdà thank the funding of the OCDE TAD/CRP JA00088807. José Martínez-Fernandez acknowledges the project Unidad de Excelencia CLU-2018-04 co-funded by FEDER and Castilla y León Government. Ane Zabaleta is supported by the Hydro-Environmental Processes consolidated research group (IT1029-16, Basque Government). This paper has the benefit of the Lab and Field Data Pool created within the framework of the COST action CONNECTEUR (ES1306).