Sustainable Development, Economic Growth, and Desertification Risk in Southern Europe

The aim of this paper is to provide a review of recent findings on the relation between socioeconomic factors and environmental quality in terms of Desertification Risk (DR). In this respect a special emphasis is given to southern Europe, a region increasingly threatened by Land Degradation (LD). This paper highlights crucial driving forces creating complex dynamics of sociodemographic (e.g. urban growth, territorial sprawling, migration movements) and economic nature (e.g. industrial concentration, agricultural intensification, tourism impact). Such dynamics impact differently on the environmental quality of dry coastal and marginal, inland areas. A simplified framework is illustrated in which economic and socio-demographic matters may affect disparities among areas incrementing Land Degradation (LD) and increasing poverty, inequality in resource availability, and social exclusion. The linkage among DR and socio-economic dimensions is described through a key example taken from southern Italy, a region prone to LD phenomena. Finally, new responses are delineated which can be devised in the context of sustainable development as an original contribution to the study of LD.