Europe’s Mediterranean countries produce a significant portion of the world’s wines, olives, nuts and tomatoes.
Europe’s Mediterranean countries produce a significant portion of the world’s wines, olives, nuts and tomatoes. But research shows that the region’s farms and orchards are the most susceptible in Europe to soil degradation and desertification.
In an analysis of agriculture research and data from the dozen European countries that line the Mediterranean coast, researchers from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, Stockholm University and the Navarino Environmental Observatory in Greece found that the Mediterranean region has the overall highest soil erosion rates within the Europe, the lowest levels of soil organic matter and severe salinisation problems.
The findings were published in the scientific journal, Science of the Total Environment.
Due to human-caused pressures and global warming, some soils in Europe’s Mediterranean region are reaching what the researchers refer to as “critical limits for their ability to provide ecosystem services,” which include farming and absorbing carbon, among others.
Perhaps even more troubling, the problem could be even more extensive than we realize, says the study’s co-author Zahra Kalantari, an associate professor at KTH.
Read More: KTH, Royal Institute of Technology
Scenes of soil erosion in Portugal. (Photo Credit: Zahra Kalantari)
