Desertification is a complex economic hazard defined by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (Paris 1994) as "the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and sub-dry areas as a result of the action of various factors, including climate change as well as human activities". Soil degradation in areas subjected to desertification is identified as a reduction of biological or economic productivity. Romania is not at all strange to this phenomenon, significant surfaces of land being affected to a smaller or larger extent (especially in the southern part of the country). Thus, according to official figures, in Dolj county about 6% (over 450 km2) of its total area is considered to be a desert and in the absence of measures to stop the phenomenon and to ecologically restore the already affected land, this surface will become increasingly larger in the future. Starting from this reality, in the first part of the present paper, the current physical, chemical and pedological conditions of a 375 hectares area located in the southern part of Dolj county (namely on the territory of Ostroveni commune, Lişteava village) were analyzed and the necessary steps were identified for the purpose of ecological restoration of the affected land. In the second part of the paper, while establishing the type of ecological restoration of the land, taken into study, namely its return to the productive agricultural land status (through the 7 well-individualized steps), we took into account the fundamental principles of ecological planning, especially the one referring to the globality or inter-causality, pointing out that the territory subjected to ecological restoration must be viewed as a whole. Beyond the productive function (the agricultural crops will produce substantial incomes for the local community), the ecological restoration also aims at the reintegration of the 375 hectares of land heavily affected by the desertification phenomenon in the context of the surrounding landscape (specific to the anthropic - agricultural ecosystems).

agricultural land, desertification, ecological restoration, productive function

environmental engineering

Presentation: oral