This work becomes with methodological rigor a part of the innovative proposals for the characterization of the areas at risk of desertification. The complexity of the phenomenon of desertification, which involves extended surfaces in all continents, is one of the most alarming processes of the environmental degradation of our Planet and threatens the health and the living conditions of over a billion of persons. The food crisis, in continuous increase, ask for the world of research to urgently supply reassuring solutions concerning the acquisition of indicators, which are easy to monitor and concur to control the phenomenon in order to fight its acceleration. The constant but different combination that determines the diffusion of deserti- cation in the territories, attributable mostly to climatic changes and the activities of the man, makes our job challenging and complicated, since it varies from region to region. We are aware of all this and therefore we think that the methodological approach of survey of the data is an extremely important element to locate of the phenomenon and to monitor its course. This work, which is characterized for its multi-disciplinary approach, suggests solutions that we wish will quickly find concrete applications at international level. Prof. Bruno Dettori President CNLSD (Comitato Nazionale per la Lotta alla Siccità e alla Desertificazione) v

The description of the effects of desertification in arid lands The feeling about desertification from North African people The modern techniques to map from high resolution satellite data

Inhalt
General Aspects of Desertification.- Anthropic Actions And Desertification In Algeria.- Climate Change And The Need For Renewable Energy Sources.- Changes In The Resources Management And Their Environmental Consequences In A Saharan Arid Environment.- Quality Management in Information Systems for Combating Desertification and Dry Lands Management.- Remote Sensing Of Aeolian Dust Production And Distribution.- Space For The Unccd And The Desertwatch Project.- The New Thematic Strategy For Protecting Soils In Europe.- Application of Remote Sensing Techniques to Desertification Mapping.- Aeolian Morphogenesis And Strategy Of Fight Against Desertification In Algeria (Hodna And Zibans Basin).- Estimating Soil Moisture Using Optical and Radar Satellite Remote Sensing Data.- Monitoring Sensitive Areas To Desertification In Sardinia: The Contribute Of The Regional Agrometeorological Service.- Contribution Of SAR Interferometry (From Ers1/2) In The Study Of Aeolian Transport Processes: The Cases Of Niger, Mauritania And Morocco.- Data Bank Of Territorial Spectral Signatures For Sardinia And North Africa.- Geosites And Touristic Development Of The Northwestern Tabular Middle Atlas Of Morocco.- Monitoring Land Degradation in Drylands by Remote Sensing.- Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation of a Project to Combat Desertification in Drylands (Case Study in Centre Western Tunisia).- Remote Sensing Technology Applications For Desertification Mapping: A Case Study, Oudia Area, Tunisia.- Sand Dunes Evolution And Desertification In Southeastern Morocco: A New Approach To An Old Problem.- Thematic Mapping Using Quickbird Multispectral Imagery In Oung El-Jemel Area, Tozeur (Sw Tunisia).- Use Of Remote Sensing And Gis For Monitoring Agro-Ecological System In Tunisian Arid Regions (Study Case Of Menzel Habib).- Very High Resolution Satellites.- Vulnerability Of The Lower Sahara And The Human Impact On The Increase Of Desertification (The Case Of Oued Righ And Oued Souf Region).- General Presentation Of The Al Jerid Area In Tozeur, Tunisia, As Test Area In The Arid Landscapes For The Fight Against Desertification.- Mapping Desertification, A High Education Course In Remote Sensing.