AUTHORS: Hermann Kam and Melanie Muro

The rising threat of desertification, likely to be exacerbated by increasing climatic and anthropogenic drivers in the future, requires immediate and comprehensive action to address it. In the EU, efforts to address desertification have traditionally been plagued by the absence of a centralised strategy.

Policies that tackle desertification in some form, and to a certain extent, are often sectoral and fragmented in nature. Nonetheless, the EU Council’s recent adoption of a conclusion to address the challenges brought upon by land degradation and desertification signals an increasing political agenda. Revised and new policies, for instance, the Common Agricultural Policy and Nature Restoration Law respectively, also provide opportunities to combat the drivers and impacts of desertification. However, a lack of binding targets and the continued absence of cohesion between policies reflect the distance policies still need to travel in order to combat desertification comprehensively in Europe.

Desertification has far-reaching implications for both humans and nature, with evident biophysical, social, and economic impacts across Europe, particularly in the Mediterranean region. This is likely to increase as climatic and anthropogenic pressures will exacerbate land vulnerability in Europe, reinforcing the need for urgent action. This brief provides a broad analysis of the policies that are currently addressing desertification in Europe, with a particular interest in efforts since the publication of the European Court of Auditors (ECA) key report on combatting desertification in 2018. It examines the extent to which relevant EU-level policies are addressing desertification and its impacts and highlights gaps and opportunities for stronger action at the EU level moving forward. 

Download the briefing and visit the TERRASAFE project website for more information.