Abstract
The impact of desertification on society is analyzed through the territorial structures by which society itself is implementing its own reproduction. Three stages of impact are pointed out, marked by elementary, functional and structural stability/vulnerability thresholds. These thresholds are not consonant, and different strategies can simultaneously raise one of them and lower another one. In this frame, three “stability/vulnerability profiles” are depicted: the rootedness profile (traditional small sized and low technologized society); the strengthening profile (under the effects of the engineered reinforcement); the integration profile (when traditional society is integrated in a wider and more diversified one).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Faggi, P.: La desertificazione. Geografia di una crisi ambientale. Etaslibri, Milano 1991.
Holling, C.: Adaptive Environmental Assessment and Management. Wiley, Chichester 1978.
ID: Adapting to Uncertainty in an Unforgiving Society. The Lindbergh Lecture Series in Ecology, 1980.
Ibrahim, F.: Desertification in Nord-Darfur. Untersuchungen zur Gefährdung des Naturpotentials durch nicht angepasste Landnutzungsmethoden in der Sahelzone der Republik Sudan. Hamb. Geogr. Studien, 35, Hamburg 1980.
Johnson, K.: Disintegration of a Traditional Resource-Use Complex: The Otomì of the Mezquital Valley, Hidalgo, Mexico. Economic Geogr. 53, 364–367 (1977)
Laszlo, E.: L'evoluzione della complessità e l'ordine mondiale contemporaneo. In: Bocchi, G.; Ceruti, M. (eds.), La sfida della complessità. 362–400, III ed., Feltrinelli, Milano 1990.
Luhmann, N.: Politische Theorie im Wohlfahrtsstaat. G. Olzog V., München 1981.
Maturana, H. R.; Varela, F. J.: Autopoiesis and Cognition; The Realization of the Living. Reidel, Dordrecht 1980.
Racine, J. B.; Reymond, H.: L'analyse quantitative en géographie. PUF, Paris 1973.
Rondinelli, D. A.: Development Projects as Policity Experiments. Methuen, London-New York 1983.
Turco, A.: Verso una teoria geografica della complessità. Unicopli, Milano 1988.
Warren, A.; Agnew, C.: An Assessment of Desertification and Land Degradation in Arid and Semi-arid Areas. A Report for Greenpeace International. Univ. College, London (mineo) 1988.
Zhu Zenda; Liu Shu: Combating Desertification in Arid and Semiarid Zones in China. Inst. of Desert Research, Lanzhou 1983.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Faggi, P. Desertification and society: A question of territory. GeoJournal 31, 89–94 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00815907
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00815907