Land Degradation and Natural Hazards: Entering the Critical Zone

Convener: Andrea TrucchiaECSECS | Co-conveners: Alice BaronettiECSECS, Heidi Kreibich

Land degradation - driven by natural hazards such as floods, droughts, wildfires and other factors - is one of the great challenges of the Anthropocene. It can lead to reduced ecosystem functions and services, biodiversity loss, and a decline in agricultural productivity. The challenge lies not only in halting land degradation but, even more importantly, in restoring degraded lands and soils - also in the framework of the new European regulation on environmental restoration.
In this debate, we will address challenges related to land and soil degradation and restoration, focusing on the impacts of Natural Hazards and adopting a Critical Zone perspective. We will discuss how to monitor, understand, model and manage critical zone processes and related natural hazards, with the goal of supporting the health of soils and land within a “one health” perspective that recognizes the interdependence of human and environmental well-being.