Il fenomeno della desertificazione e gli indicatori per la sua valutazione.-

Desertification, a complex phenomenon through which a soil progressively loses its productive and functional capacity, is becoming a very important and well-known environmental problem, because it represents a serious threat to the environment and to human socio-economic welfare. In this paper the causes, both natural and anthropic, of desertification are presented as well as the factors which determine the predisposition of a soil to degradation phenomena by means of "desertification indicators". These are collected, described using two different forms and classified through an "open" system that permits to have a database that can be always updated.