Authors
Remus Prăvălie, Pasquale Borrelli, Panos Panagos, Cristiano Ballabio, Emanuele Lugato, Adrian Chappell, Gonzalo Miguez-Macho, Federico Maggi, Jian Peng, Mihai Niculiță, Bogdan Roșca, Cristian Patriche, Monica Dumitrașcu, Georgeta Bandoc, Ion-Andrei Nita, Marius-Victor Birsan
Publication date
2024/5/8
Journal
Nature Communications
Volume
15
Issue
1
Pages
3862
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group UK
Description
Land degradation is a complex socio-environmental threat, which generally occurs as multiple concurrent pathways that remain largely unexplored in Europe. Here we present an unprecedented analysis of land multi-degradation in 40 continental countries, using twelve dataset-based processes that were modelled as land degradation convergence and combination pathways in Europe’s agricultural (and arable) environments. Using a Land Multi-degradation Index, we find that up to 27%, 35% and 22% of continental agricultural (~2 million km2) and arable (~1.1 million km2) lands are currently threatened by one, two, and three drivers of degradation, while 10–11% of pan-European agricultural/arable landscapes are cumulatively affected by four and at least five concurrent processes. We also explore the complex pattern of spatially interacting processes, emphasizing the major combinations of land degradation …
Total citations
Scholar articles
R Prăvălie, P Borrelli, P Panagos, C Ballabio, E Lugato… - Nature Communications, 2024