Land use in arid lands: assessing desertification impact category in the western arid region of Argentina

CIVIT, B; ARENA, AP

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Congreso; UNCCD First International Scientific Conference and Consultation Understanding Desertification and Land Degradation Trends; 2009

Institute for Environment and Sustainability

In the last few years many studies have been done to define land use indicators in Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) context to evaluate the impacts that different products or activities produce on soil quality and/or biodiversity. In arid lands, human activities that require the intensive use of land may lead to desertification phenomenon reaching an irreversible degraded state of soil and its life functions. This paper shows the desertification impact model developed for the mid west arid region of Argentina and the results obtained by its application to a case study: the comparison between 1 sqm occupied by bricks production vs 1 sqm occupied with rape seed cultivation. The results show that the agricultural activity causes a benefit in land properties meanwhile the other case produces a harmful effect on the arid environment. The model developed to assess desertification impact of products, processes or activities during their entire life cycle could be considered in life cycle assessment studies performed in the considered region, but also could be applied in other arid lands of the world.