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Desertification is a complex phenomenon defined as the extreme degree of land degradation induced by human activities and climatic conditions. Climate change is accelerating and widening these areas. Previews analysis and studies assessed the vulnerability to desertification in Italy at national and regional level through a methodological approach based on integrating climate, soil, vegetation, and socio-economic data (ESA). The studies carried out by ISPRA aim to provide an update of the of land degradation assessment in Italy, based on Trends.Earth methodology and of the three UN-SDGs sub-indicators on Target 15.3.1 (land use/land cover, land productivity and soil organic carbon above and below ground status and trends), together with additional dimensions of land degradation considered crucial for national land characters. Final assessment of the percentage of degraded land is around 36% of national area. This exercise demonstrates the importance to consider a larger number of data and include information on other factors, such as climate, physical, chemical data. This integrated approach to the assessment of land degradation will allow to describe also of the loss of related ecosystem services.

On April 11, 1991, an explosion on the M/C Haven resulted in a fire and the release of approximately 145,500 metric tons (t) of heavy Iranian crude oil near Genoa, Italy, in the industrialized coastal region of the northern Ligurian Sea. Approximately 30,000 t of cargo oil was released to the sea, of which only one-tenth reached the shoreline beaches along the Italian Riviera. An environmental assessment of the affected region indicated injury from the spilled oil to subtidal Posidonia/Cymodocea (seagrass) beds and the deep-sea benthic community and associated commercial fisheries. This was one of the first oil spills in which it was documented that oiled, shallow subtidal sediments (<10 m) were efficiently cleaned and large amounts of residual oil reached the deep sea bottom (100 to 400 m) as a result of burning cargo.

<p><span xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="auto"><span>SERENA </span></span><span xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span>Project aims to improve the effectiveness of European policies on the environment, and </span><span>in particular on</span><span> soil, through the analysis of soil-based ecosystem services and soil threats in </span><span>some of</span> <span>European agricultural landscapes. The need for </span><span>sustainable and effective</span> <span>agro</span><span>-management </span><span>methods, </span><span>practices and techniques to contribute to the improvement of soil quality and to mitigate the effects of global change scenarios foresee has been widely recognized.</span> <span>In addition to the identification and evaluation of indicators for soil-based ecosystem services and</span> <span>soil threats, the project also foresees to define relevant scenarios </span><span>based on</span> <span>the best </span><span>available scientific knowledge</span><span>, useful for </span><span>evaluati</span><span>ng</span><span> the dynamics of </span><span>a variety of</span><span> land degradation impact</span><span>s</span><span> on ecosystem services.</span><span> A specific study is devoted to</span><span> the </span><span>available knowledge on </span><span>expected projections that main drivers, </span><span>as</span><span> climate change, demographic trends, changes in land use/land cover and land management could produce in agricultural soils.</span> <span>The </span><span>first </span><span>outcomes of </span><span>the </span><span>scenario analysis, and the resulting implications on soil health and </span><span>on </span><span>ecosystem services, will be </span><span>then </span><span>discussed with end-users</span> <span>to co-construct </span></span><span xml:lang="IT-IT" data-contrast="none"><span>relevant</span> <span>scenarios</span><span> to support planning and </span><span>decision</span><span>-making </span><span>processes</span></span><span xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span>. This</span><span> approach considers that t</span><span>he collaboration with end-users </span><span>plays a key role</span><span> to address the evaluation of </span><span>impacts</span><span> of soil related policies striving to achieve national and global environmental targets, including Agenda 2030 and its Sustainable Development Goals, involving broadly decision-makers</span></span><span xml:lang="EN-US" data-contrast="none"><span> and stakeholders</span><span>, helping their effectiveness</span><span>.</span></span></p>

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