WHAT IS OUR OVERARCHING GOAL?
The overarching goal of TERRASAFE is to significantly empower local communities in southern Europe and northern Africa to confront the growing threats of desertification, particularly accelerated by climate change. This will be achieved by co-developing, co-implementing, co-assessing cost-effectiveness, co-demonstrating, co-disseminating, and co-promoting the widespread adoption of nature-based, technological, and social innovations for land degradation prevention and restoration.
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Register for the TERRASAFE public launch event!
*27/09/24, 11:00-13:00 CET (10:00-12:00 UK)* Register for the event by clicking here. Are you concerned about the growing threat of desertification? We are pleased to invite you to join us for the official public launch of the TERRASAFE project! This event will...
TERRASAFE is hiring: Postdoctoral research associate
TERRASAFE is seeking a Post-Doctoral Research Associate. This post is linked to Work Package 2: Multi-actor engagement in a participatory approach and will be based in the Department of Environment and Geography at the University of York (UK), which leads the work...
TERRASAFE celebrates World Day to combat Desertification and Drought
TERRASAFE will contribute to tackling ongoing desertification challenges across Southern Europe and Northern Africa. We will do this by empowering local communities to co-create and adopt innovative approaches to preventing land degradation and restoring areas of...
Our Project
Desertification, as defined by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), is the degradation of land in drylands caused by factors such as climate variations and human activities. In Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, about 25% of the land is highly or very highly vulnerable to degradation. This vulnerability is expected to worsen with future climate change and continued pressures from current land use practices.
Land degradation varies greatly depending on the specific contextt, so solutions to prevent and reverse it must consider local social, economic, environmental and political conditions. In a multi-actor stakeholder approach TERRASAFE will actively involve local communities of landowners and other stakeholders in decision-making processes on viable desertification prevention and restoration measures. This collaborative approach, supported by scientifically sound and robust tools and guidelines tailored by the local communities to their specific circumstances, will enhance desertification resilience and lead to transformative positive impacts.
ITALY PILOT AREA
Land abandonment and depopulation
ROMANIA PILOT AREA
Vegetation decline
SPAIN PILOT AREA
Water Scarcity
TUNISIA PILOT AREA
Soil degradation through salinization
CYPRUS PILOT AREA
Soil degradation through soil organic matter decline
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Pilot Areas
TERRASAFE is working in 5 pilot areas which represent the full range of major desertification types and also cover a wide range of land cover and management systems. The principal desertification threats that the pilot areas cover are:
Italy
land abandonment and depopulation
Romania
Vegetation
decline
Spain
Water
scarcity
Cyprus
Soil degradation through soil organic matter decline
Tunisia
Soil degradation through salinization