CRITICAL AREAS OF LAND COVER CHANGE: AN INDICATOR IN THE FRAMEWORK OF INTEGRATED ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING OF DESERTIFICATION AT LOCAL SCALE. PROVINCE OF MENDOZA, ARGENTINA.

RUBIO MARÍA CECILIA; RUBIO MARÍA CLARA; ABRAHAM ELENA; SALOMÓN, MARIO

Cancún

Conferencia; 3rd Scientific Conference UNCCD. COMBATING DROUGHT, LAND DEGRADATION AND DESERTIFICATION FOR POVERTY REDUCTION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT; 2015

UNCCD

The drylands in Mendoza province (Argentina) are fragile ecosystems, subjected to severe and complex processes of desertification (LADA/FAO, 2011), where physical-biological and socioeconomic subsystems interact. As an input to the integrated assessment and monitoring of desertification (Abraham et al., 2006) in the non-irrigated area of the department of Lavalle, NE of Mendoza, we identified the ?Critical areas of land cover change?, an analysis infrequently conducted in desertification studies (Rubio, 2014). Although there is extensive background on assessing land cover and land use changes, most studies address productive humid areas, related to the advancement of soybean monoculture and cattle breeding. Consequently, we proposed to incorporate this indicator into the integrated assessment, in order to define areas susceptible to degradation from the land cover changes experienced in drylands. In these areas, land cover changes bring about strong modifications in the supply of ecosystem goods and services (Daily et al., 1997) and influence the vulnerability of both places and people to climatic, economic or socio-political disturbances.