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![WLDI components and degradation scales [45,68,69,76,77].](profile/Kleomenis-Kalogeropoulos/publication/357830661/figure/tbl3/AS:1112130610831361@1642164008119/WLDI-components-and-degradation-scales-45-68-69-76-77_Q320.jpg)
Natural resources degradation poses multiple challenges, particularly to environmental
and economic processes. It is usually difficult to identify the degree of degradation and the critical vulnerability values in the affected systems. Thus, among other tools, indices (composite indicators) may also describe these complex systems or phenomena. In t...
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... correlation values seem low, but they are valid because WLDI consists of climatic, soil, geological, infrastructure, and agricultural data. Additionally, the above results may be validated from Figure 4 with the selected spots. Particularly, the high values of WLDI (d2) portray similar conditions with SOC (a2). ...
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... Η έγκαιρη παρακολούθηση της ξηρασίας και τα συστήματα έγκαιρης προειδοποίησης επιτρέπουν τη λήψη προληπτικών μέτρων, όπως ο περιορισμός του νερού και η κατανομή των πόρων έκτακτης ανάγκης, μετριάζοντας τις κοινωνικοοικονομικές επιπτώσεις της ξηρασίας. Η διαφοροποίηση των πηγών νερού μέσω της συγκομιδής βρόχινου νερού και της επαναχρησιμοποίησης λυμάτων εξασφαλίζει μια πιο ανθεκτική και βιώσιμη παροχή νερού, ιδίως σε περιόδους παρατεταμένης λειψυδρίας , Tsesmelis et al., 2022aTsesmelis et al., 2022b;Tsesmelis et al., 2023). ...
Η ξηρασία είναι ένα επαναλαμβανόμενο φυσικό φαινόμενο με σημαντικές κοινωνικοοικονομικές και περιβαλλοντικές επιπτώσεις. Η ικανότητα ακριβούς χαρτογράφησης και παρακολούθησης των συνθηκών ξηρασίας είναι ζωτικής σημασίας για την αποτελεσματική διαχείριση των υδατικών πόρων και τις στρατηγικές μετριασμού. Η παρούσα μελέτη αποσκοπεί στη χαρτογράφηση των προτύπων ξηρασίας κάνοντας χρήση του Τυποποιημένου Δείκτη Βροχόπτωσης (SPI - Standardized Precipitation Index) στην Ελλάδα σε περιβάλλον Συστημάτων Γεωγραφικών Πληροφοριών (ΣΓΠ). Τα ΣΓΠ παρέχουν ένα ισχυρό εργαλείο για την ενσωμάτωση διαφόρων γεωχωρικών δεδομένων, συμπεριλαμβανομένων κλιματικών, τοπογραφικών και υδρολογικών πληροφοριών, επιτρέποντας μια ολοκληρωμένη αξιολόγηση των συνθηκών ξηρασίας. Αναλύοντας ιστορικά δεδομένα βροχόπτωσης, ο SPI μπορεί να ποσοτικοποιήσει τη ένταση και τη διάρκεια της ξηρασίας σε σχέση με τον μακροπρόθεσμο μέσο όρο βροχόπτωσης. Στην παρούσα μελέτη, περιγράφεται η εκδήλωση του συγκεκριμένου φαινομένου και αναλύονται τα χαρακτηριστικά του (ένταση και διάρκεια – χωρική και χρονική κατανομή) με την εφαρμογή του. Για τον υπολογισμό του δείκτη χρησιμοποιήθηκαν δεδομένα από μετεωρολογικούς σταθμούς κατανεμημένους σε όλη την επικράτεια. Στη συνέχεια, δημιουργήθηκαν χάρτες ξηρασίας με την εφαρμογή γεωστατιστικών μεθόδων. Το χρονικό βήμα που χρησιμοποιήθηκε για τον υπολογισμό και τη χαρτογράφηση του δείκτη επιλέχθηκε στους έξι (6) και τους δώδεκα (12) μήνες. Επιπρόσθετα, οι δευτερογενής επιπτώσεις της ξηρασίας στην φυτοκάλυψη αξιολογήθηκαν από δορυφορικά δεδομένα χρησιμοποιώντας του δείκτες NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) και Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI). Οι προκύπτοντες χάρτες ξηρασίας μπορούν να χρησιμεύσουν ως πολύτιμος πόρος για τους υπεύθυνους χάραξης πολιτικής, τους διαχειριστές υδάτων και τα ενδιαφερόμενα μέρη που εμπλέκονται στον σχεδιασμό των υδατικών πόρων και στις διαδικασίες λήψης αποφάσεων. Οι χωρικά σαφείς πληροφορίες που παρέχουν οι χάρτες επιτρέπουν τη στοχευμένη κατανομή των πόρων, την εφαρμογή μέτρων μετριασμού της ξηρασίας και την ανάπτυξη στρατηγικών προσαρμογής στην ξηρασία σε περιφερειακή και τοπική κλίμακα. Συνολικά, η μελέτη αυτή καταδεικνύει τις δυνατότητες της τεχνολογίας ΣΓΠ και των δεικτών στη χαρτογράφηση και παρακολούθηση των συνθηκών ξηρασίας στην Ελλάδα. Η ενσωμάτωση διαφόρων περιβαλλοντικών συνόλων δεδομένων ενισχύει την κατανόηση των πολύπλοκων αλληλεπιδράσεων και παραγόντων που επηρεάζουν την ξηρασία, διευκολύνοντας πιο τεκμηριωμένες και προληπτικές στρατηγικές διαχείρισης των υδάτων ενόψει της αυξανόμενης κλιματικής μεταβλητότητας και των προκλήσεων των ξηρασιών.
... Soil erosion is aggravated by abrupt climate variability, exploitation of natural resources, land degradation, etc. As a result, soil erosion and its environmental consequences are growing concerns worldwide (Gilani et al., 2022;Tsesmelis et al., 2022). Over the last few decades, it has become increasingly clear that soil erosion poses a significant risk to long-term soil sustainability, leading to soil management scenarios and practical conservation practices to preserve soil against erosive forces (Telak et al., 2021;Tesfahunegn et al., 2021;Khalil and Aslam, 2022). ...
Soil erosion is a major problem in arid regions, including the Abha-Khamis watershed in Saudi Arabia. This research aimed to identify the soil erosional probability using various soil erodibility indices, including clay ratio (CR), modified clay ratio (MCR), Critical Level of Soil Organic Matter (CLOM), and principle component analysis based soil erodibility index (SEI). To achieve these objectives, the study used t -tests and an artificial neural network (ANN) model to identify the best SEI model for soil erosion management. The performance of the models were then evaluated using R ² , Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Mean Squared Error (MSE), and Mean Absolute Error (MAE), with CLOM identified as the best model for predicting soil erodibility. Additionally, the study used Shapley additive explanations (SHAP) values to identify influential parameters for soil erosion, including sand, clay, silt, soil organic carbon (SOC), moisture, and void ratio. This information can help to develop management strategies oriented to these parameters, which will help prevent soil erosion. The research showed notable distinctions between CR and CLOM, where the 25–27% contribution explained over 89% of the overall diversity. The MCR indicated that 70% of the study area had low erodibility, while 20% had moderate and 10% had high erodibility. CLOM showed a range from low to high erodibility, with 40% of soil showing low CLOM, 40% moderate, and 20% high. Based on the T -test results, CR is significantly different from CLOM, MCR, and principal component analysis (PCA), while CLOM is significantly different from MCR and PCA, and MCR is significantly different from PCA. The ANN implementation demonstrated that the CLOM model had the highest accuracy ( R ² of 0.95 for training and 0.92 for testing) for predicting soil erodibility, with SOC, sand, moisture, and void ratio being the most important variables. The SHAP analysis confirmed the importance of these variables for each of the four ANN models. This research provides valuable information for soil erosion management in arid regions. The identification of soil erosional probability and influential parameters will help to develop effective management strategies to prevent soil erosion and promote agricultural production. This research can be used by policymakers and stakeholders to make informed decisions to manage and prevent soil erosion.
... Future rainfall regimes suggest less rainfall but increased intensity of rainfall events and are expected to interfere with soil erosion processes (Grillakis et al., 2020) with both urban and rural/mountain areas of Crete prone to intense flooding (Tichavský et al., 2020). The Water and Land Resources Degradation Index (WLDI) for Crete suggests that low average rainfall coupled with high water demand may significantly affect water and land degradation (Tsesmelis et al., 2022). Degradation of land occurs mainly in areas with high agricultural and tourist activity and with climate change affecting water availability (García-Ruiz et al., 2011), a deficit in water budgets stress agricultural productivity, tourism and threatens the general wellbeing of Cretans (Chartzoulakis et al., 2001;Toth et al., 2018;Kourgialas et al., 2018). ...
The increased frequency and severity of wildfires in the Mediterranean region generates significant damages in ecosystems and landscapes while harming human populations. Institutional complexities, along with socioeconomic and demographic changes encouraging development into the wildland-urban interface, rural abandon-ment, and focus on fire suppression, are increasing the vulnerability and flammability of Mediterranean ecosystems. Developing effective strategies for managing wildfire incidence and its aftermath requires understanding of the public preferences for wildfire policy characteristics. Here we elicit public preferences for wildfire mitigation policies employing a stated choice experiment applied in Crete, Greece. A region with typical Med-iterranean landscape experiencing significant development and rural-to-urban migration that disrupts existing fire regimes. We estimate conditional logit, mixed logit and latent class models to study the general public's preferences and willingness to pay for limiting wildfire frequency and agricultural land burnt, maintaining landscape features, and managing post-wildfire recovery. Results of our study show that measures to manage post-wildfire damage are consistently valued as the most positive amongst the sampled respondents, achieving values that range between €25.92 in conditional logit model to €46 in one of the latent classes identified. Improving the landscape quality follows in importance, although it shows more heterogeneity in the responses. The latent class approach allowed to identify that those associated with either the agricultural or the tourism sector of the sampled individuals, displayed significantly different preferences for the proposed attributes. Overall, our findings indicate that there is a strong preference amongst the general public to shift current policies based on suppression towards more integrated approaches dealing both with prevention and post-fire management. The outcomes of this study serve to guide decision makers on targeted management plans based on their audience.
... The Mediterranean region, due to its specific morphological, climatic, and atmospheric conditions, is classified as a moderate-and high-emitting region, revealing a strong response to global climate variability [3][4][5]. Moreover, its periods of low rainfall coincide with periods of high temperatures and high water demand, which further complicates the situation [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. Drought is an insidious natural hazard that takes place when the relevant precipitation rate is below the average value for a region for more than one period, resulting in insufficient water supplies for both human activities and environmental standards to be sufficiently covered [10,[14][15][16][17][18]. ...
... Timeseries of SPI(3,6,12, and 24 months) for the CRU sampling point with trendline corresponding to Cairo, Egypt. Timeseries of SPI (3, 6, 12, and 24 months) for the CRU sampling point with trendline corresponding to Athens, Greece. ...
... Timeseries of SPI(3,6,12, and 24 months) for the CRU sampling point with trendline corresponding to Athens, Greece. Climate 2023, 11, Timeseries of SPI (3, 6, 12, and 24 months) for the CRU sampling point with trendline corresponding to Jerusalem, Israel. ...
The ever-increasing need for water, the alteration in the climate, and its observed changes over recent years have triggered a lot of research studies associated with the phenomenon of drought. Within the wider geographical region of the Mediterranean, the relevant scientific subject seems to be of great interest, since it is undoubtedly related to a number of severe socio-economic consequences. This present effort focuses on the evolution of this particular phenomenon over time, within the borders of nine different countries in the Eastern Mediterranean (Athens, Greece—Europe; Constantinople, Turkey—Asia; Nicosia, Cyprus—Europe; Jerusalem, Israel—Asia; Amman, Jordan—Asia; Damascus, Syria—Asia; Beirut, Lebanon—Asia; Cairo, Egypt—Africa; and Tripoli Libya—Africa). By applying the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI), examining precipitation data at the month level (January 1901 to December 2020), and utilizing the Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) method, the spatio–temporal variability of drought events in the Eastern Mediterranean area was studied. In Jerusalem, long-term droughts presented a higher than usual volume, in accordance with applying the 12- and 24-month SPI, starting from the mid-20th century. Similarly, the region of Damascus presented a similar pattern to those in Beirut, Amman, and Jerusalem. An upward trend in the frequency of extreme drought events was observed for the last thirty years. The same trend seems to be true in terms of the duration of dry periods. Drought events have also been observed in the central, southern, and eastern regions of Turkey. A downward trend was observed in Cairo based on a trend analysis of its monthly precipitation.
... Extreme floods resulting from heavy rainfall can cause problems for installations, technical works, and crops, resulting in the degradation of the affected areas. In addition, they can cause erosion and soil degradation which, in conjunction with forest fires, lead to further soil deterioration and gradually to desertification [18][19][20]. ...
Floods are natural hazards with negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts at a local and regional level. In addition to human lives, facilities, and infrastructure, flooding is a potential threat to archaeological sites, with all the implications for the cultural heritage of each country. Technological developments of recent years, particularly concerning geospatial technologies (GIS, Remote Sensing, etc.), have brought novel advantages to hydrological modelling. This study uses geoinformatics to quantify flood hazard assessment. The study area is the ungauged torrent of Kladeos River, located in Peloponnese, Greece. Geomorphological analysis combined with hydrological modelling were performed in a GIS-based environment in order to study the hydrological behavior of the Kladeos River basin. The hydrological analysis was carried out with rainfall data and hypothetical storms using a 5 × 5 m digital terrain model. The quantitative features of the catchment were calculated in order to determine its susceptibility to flooding. The hydro-morphometric analysis revealed stream order anomalies in the drainage network which, combined with the morphology of its upper and lower parts, enhance the possibility of flood events. The primary results indicated that there is an increased possibility of extensive flooding in the archaeological site, depending on the severity of the rainfall, since the basic geomorphological characteristics favor it. The proposed methodology calculates parameters such as flow rate, flow velocity, etc., in order to measure and quantify flood hazard and risks in the area of interest.
... Nowadays, fresh water is the most important but vulnerable natural resource in the Mediterranean region [1,2]. Its sources are under great pressure due to the rapid increase in population, its intensive use by agriculture, industry and tourism, pollution and increased water scarcity due to extreme climate variability [3,4]. The agriculture sector is the main freshwater consumer in the Mediterranean region, e.g., as described in [5,6]. ...
In order to increase water productivity at the Collective Irrigation System (CIS) level it is crucial to adapt the existing irrigation infrastructure, enhancing water intake at the source, as well as its transport and delivery efficiency. Rehabilitation may involve structural changes and thus, a large capital investment. This investment should be proportionate to the increase in climate resilience associated to different rehabilitation alternatives. A methodology framework was developed to evaluate CIS resilience to climate change considering different rehabilitation alternatives. The assessed components were: (i) crop production systems; (ii) on-farm irrigation systems; and (iii) project rehabilitation alternatives for the conveyance and distribution of the irrigation water from the source to the farmer fields. This framework was applied to the Maiorga CIS, in central Portugal, to test the methodology performance in assessing the impacts of climate change on the supply-demand balance of the proposed rehabilitation alternatives and to evaluate their climate resilience, for the representative concentration pathways, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, and two time periods, 2041-2070 and 2071-2100. For each scenario, period, and rehabilitation alternative, irrigation requirements at the source (demand) and stream flows (supply) were computed and the supply-demand balance was performed. Projected increases in irrigation water demand varied between 5.5% for RCP4.5/2071-2100 and 35.7% for RCP8.5/2071-2100. For RCP4.5, 11% (2050) and 9% (2080) reductions in irrigation water supply were projected, while for RCP8.5 the reduction ranges between 13% (2050) and 30% (2080). The proposed framework determined that the rehabilitation alternatives considering just one type of water source, without flow regularization and with open channel distribution to the farmer's field, have proved to be unviable due to low resilience to climate change.
... The relatively high level of innovation expenditure and number of enterprises favored by the existence of the two industrial parks and touristic reputation. 4 Low public awareness of the need to adopt sustainable consumption patterns. ...
Our research provides solutions to alleviate the economic problems currently plaguing our planet that are responsible for the decline of its ecological systems. Our motivation is the need to identify elements that will encourage and accelerate the transition from a linear to a circular economic model, raising awareness of the limited nature of resources and the major pressures exerted by climate change and population growth. Our paper highlights the implications of strategic thinking, i.e., strategic management, in the development and promotion of the circular economy, including the concept of sustainability, in the agri-food sector. We propose strategic options based on information from our secondary analysis of statistical data and relevant literature, e.g., from PESTEL, SWOT, and DPSIR diagnostic models, for integrating resource flows into circular processes, which are meant to reduce resource consumption and minimise waste. Our paper elaborates on an integrated and dynamic model for the transition from a linear to a circular economic model; furthermore, we perform further research to create appropriate frameworks for elaborating on and implementing the most relevant policy options to accelerate this transition process.
... Land degradation and natural hazards are among the most serious threats to natural ressources in Mediterranean systems (Tsesmelis et al. 2022). Land degradation has become a serious threat to regional food security (Nhamo et al. 2022), while natural hazards are one of the costliest and deadliest environmental challenges (Liu et al. 2022;Ostad-Ali-Askari 2022). ...
The land degradation neutrality (LDN) concept is key for safeguarding land resources. As part of the Arab region, Lebanon’s geographical and climatic properties make it particularly vulnerable to land degradation, hence its need for LDN. However, despite its efficiency, LDN is limited by the absence of clear representations of land degradation and the lack of natural hazard-related indicators. In response to these gaps, a land-health state classification of eight classes was proposed based on the intersection of land cover and land capability layers. The latter reflect the productive capacities of lands based on soil physical attributes. The objective of this classification is to extend beyond the dichotomous separation of lands into degraded or not, hence providing more comprehensive insights. As a second step, wildfires were integrated to determine potentialities of land degradation by fire. Potentialities were derived from the spatial intersection of land capability and wildfire layers. Land health states were found to be distributed as 5.03% adequately used, 1.03% adequately used/at risk of degradation, 0.71% at risk of degradation, 21.14% lightly used, 2.51% lightly used/at risk of degradation, 11.51% overused, 0.07% overused/at risk of degradation, and 8% degraded. Almost one-third of Lebanon was found to have moderate-very high potentialities of degradation by fire. To address the situation, the LDN avoid reduce and reverse strategy was applied via land use planning. Subsequently, 36.97% of lands shifted to the adequately used class while simultaneously reducing potentialities of degradation by fire. Accordingly, the multi-beneficial nature of LDN was highlighted.
... Hydrological response was more sensitive to LULC dynamics and sediment yield of the watershed (Aghsaei et al., 2020;Assfaw & Del Hierro, 2020;Saddique et al., 2020;Welde & Gebremariam, 2017); and thus, natural resource degradation resulting from inappropriate land use and subsequent hydrological change is one of the key problems threatening environmental welfare and sustainable development (Bekele et al., 2021). As the process of natural resources degradation is complex and caused by different factors, it is usually difficult to identify the degree of degradation and the critical vulnerability values in the affected systems (Tsesmelis et al., 2022;). Satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) have been widely applied and been recognized as a powerful and effective tool in detecting land use and land cover change due to its multi-temporal, multi-spectral and multi-spatial resolution potential (Junge et al., 2010;Kumar et al., 2015;Lefsky et al., 1998;). ...
Evaluation of land use change is important for understanding the relationship between nature and the future policy design in sustainable natural resources management. In this study the dam-triggered land use cover changes since the time of its commencement of construction was evaluated by using satellite remote sensing and GIS techniques. To detect changes between 2011 and 2021, the post-processing technique was applied using QGIS’s SCP tool and two raster images of 2011 and 2021 as inputs for change simulation and the output classes were edited using reference classes. The study results revealed that the overall accuracy for the 2011 classification and 2021 classification was 0.89 (89%) and 0.94 (94%) respectively. The highest conversion was recorded between agricultural land to the mixed forest (14.61%) and mixed forest to shrub land (13.40%), while the lowest conversion was observed between the built-up area to a water body (0.02%) and to agricultural land (0.1%). It was recommended to consider the correlation between forest biodiversity conservation and the sustainability of hydroelectric dam by increasing restoration of degraded forests in the GERD catchment and growing forest cover should be viewed as an issue of national energy security as early as possible.
... Future rainfall regimes suggest less rainfall but increased intensity of rainfall events and are expected to interfere with soil erosion processes (Grillakis et al., 2020) with both urban and rural/mountain areas of Crete prone to intense flooding (Tichavský et al., 2020). The Water and Land Resources Degradation Index (WLDI) for Crete suggests that low average rainfall coupled with high water demand may significantly affect water and land degradation (Tsesmelis et al., 2022). Degradation of land occurs mainly in areas with high agricultural and tourist activity and with climate change affecting water availability (García-Ruiz et al., 2011), a deficit in water budgets stress agricultural productivity, tourism and threatens the general wellbeing of Cretans (Chartzoulakis et al., 2001;Toth et al., 2018;Kourgialas et al., 2018). ...
