A Contribution on Sardinia soils: the new Ecopedological Map and case studies on soil consumption by structures

The present work, carried out in the frame of the MEDCOASTLAND project, constitutes a contribution to the knowledge of Mediterranean soil resources and of the opportunities for their conservation and valorisation, as well as the related degradation threats. The study focuses on Sardinia (Italy) and touches two different but linked aspects: the recent developments of the regional soil cartography, based on the new European technical guidelines, and the soil consumption due to urbanisation in some areas of the island characterised by different economic development processes.The first aspect constitutes an example of recovery and valorisation of existing pedological information in view of systematising the available knowledge and providing support to soil conservation planning.The second refers to soil loss by urbanization, qhich is one of the most important causes of irreversible land degradation, especially in coastal areas. The authors considered a total area of about 210.000 ha. where soil consumption was estimated both as total areas and as losses of agricultural land capacity. The results show that the relevant soil loss observed is not caused by a rise in resident population, but is driver by the strong tourism and residential development. Both the Ecopedological Map and the study on soil consumption have been conducted by the NRD.