A team of Spanish researchers has measured thesoil degradationof the planet fromLife Cycle Analysis (LCA), a scientific methodology that analyzes the environmental impact of human activities in which desertification indicators are included for the first time. The results show that el 38% of the world is arid areas at risk of desertification.
“Despite the improvements in LCA, a methodological weakness is the absence of categories of environmental impact that measure the effect on the soil of human activity such as cultivation of land or grazing,” explains Montserrat Núñez, lead author and researcher of theAgrifood Research and Technology Institute(IRTA). Their study, published in the latest issue ofInternational Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, is the first in the world to include the impact of desertification on LCA from theclassification of 15 natural areas or “eco-regions” according to their degree of aridity.
Through the simultaneous use of ACV and aGeographic information system(GIS), researchers have shown that8 of the 15 classified areas are in danger of desertification, that is, 38% of the world’s land surface. The eight natural areas at risk are the marine zones, the grasslands, the Mediterranean, the savannah, the temperate steppe, the temperate desert, the tropical or subtropical steppe, and the tropical or subtropical desert.The highest risk of desertification (7.6 out of 10)It is found in the subtropical desert regions:North Africa, the countries of the Middle East, Australia, southwestern China and the west bank of South America. It is followed by the Mediterranean and the tropical and subtropical steppe, both scoring 6.3 out of 10 on the scale created for desertification risk. Marine areas and grasslands have a lower risk of desertification with a 4 out of 10.
