Overall goal

The overall goal is to develop indicators for the early and rapid identification of soil deterioration and for the monitoring of the efficacy and suitability of remediation methods.

Strategic objectives:

• Development of the indicators of desertification mechanisms on selective fields in various stages of degradation and remediation;
• Verification on a pan European basis on locations, which will be selected with the assistance of international and national stakeholders; and
• Dissemination.

Operational approach

The project will be carried out in three phases

• Integration of the project with past and present endeavours in this area (WP1), including the contribution of stakeholders from scientific, public and private sectors. Also within this phase potential remediation strategies will be developed for initial testing (WP2).
• Indicator development (WP3, WP4, WP5).
• Calibration and validation (upscaling) of the results obtained within the second phase. This will be achieved within WP6.

Another component will be the scientific and non-scientific dissemination (WP7). The task of this work package will be active during the entire course of the project.