ABSTRACT

The Mediterranean has been subject to changing human settlement and land use patterns for millennia, and has a history of human exploitation in an inherently unstable landscape. Environmental Issues in the Mediterranean reviews both physical and social aspects of this region, in relation to its environment.
Ideal for students who are studying a range of environmental issues, but want to see them linked within one regional context. The book begins with an introduction to the Mediterranean region, its history, physical and human geography and its environmental problems. It then goes on to examine:
* The Dynamic Environment - climate variables and fluctuations, vegetation, the hydrological cycle of the basin and its watershed, processes of erosion, fire and the Mediterranean Sea
*The Human Impact on the Environment - prehistoric and historic land use, traditional agriculture, rural and urban settlement and use of mineral resources
* The Mediterranean Environment Under Increasing Pressure - the present human landscape, changes in agriculture in the 20th century, the impact of depopulation, pollution, water resources, desertification and potential climatic change.
It then concludes with a discussion of the region's on-going environmental issues of water resources, land degradation, agricultural intensification and tourism, and considers how these can be approached using management techniques and national and regional policies.

part |2 pages

Part 1 Background

chapter 1|11 pages

The Mediterranean region in its context

chapter 2|43 pages

The geological setting

part |2 pages

Part 2 The dynamic environment

chapter 3|31 pages

The Mediterranean climate and its evolution

Meteorology

chapter |29 pages

Box 3.2 Marine records of climate change

chapter 4|1 pages

Vegetation

chapter |1 pages

Topics for discussion

chapter 5|3 pages

The hydrological cycle of the Basin and its watershed

Hillslope hydrology in Mediterranean environments

chapter |3 pages

Box 5.1 How runoff is generated

chapter |7 pages

Box 5.2 Return periods

chapter |4 pages

Box 5.3 Saltwater intrusion

chapter 6|4 pages

Erosion processes

chapter |18 pages

Slope-erosion processes

chapter 7|10 pages

Fire

chapter 8|8 pages

The Mediterranean Sea

Main issues

part |2 pages

Part 3 The human impact on the environment

chapter 10|2 pages

Traditional land-use patterns 1

Agriculture

chapter |10 pages

Box 10.2 Evidence for domestication

chapter |21 pages

Erosion and agricultural exploitation

chapter 11|9 pages

Traditional land-use patterns 2

Rural settlement

chapter 12|7 pages

Traditional land-use patterns 3

Urban settlement

chapter |7 pages

Impacts on land use

chapter |2 pages

Pollution

chapter 13|6 pages

Traditional land-use patterns 4

Use of mineral resources

part |2 pages

Part 4 The Mediterranean environment under increasing pressure

chapter 14|1 pages

The present human landscape

chapter |9 pages

The development of tourism

chapter 16|7 pages

The impact of depopulation

chapter 17|2 pages

Pollution

chapter 18|2 pages

Water resources

chapter |4 pages

Box 18.1 La grande hydraulique

chapter |3 pages

Box 18.3 Water recycling

chapter |3 pages

Dry farming

chapter |1 pages

Summary

chapter 19|9 pages

The desertification problem

Desertification: myth or reality?

chapter |1 pages

Topics for discussion

chapter 20|15 pages

Potential climatic change and its effects

chapter |1 pages

Topics for discussion

chapter 21|11 pages

Key issues for mitigation

Temporal variability

chapter |1 pages

The future