The case of urban sprawl in Spain as an active and irreversible driving force for desertification

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) does not distinguish between natural and human drivers, and between active and inherited desertification. Partly as a result of these ambiguities the UNCCD has attracted a low level of international attention. As the Spanish case study shows, this vagueness hinders the implementation of effective strategies to combat this global challenge. Unsustainable agricultural land management is the most blamed desertification agent in Spain but as land use changes trends demonstrate, desertification phenomena are fueled by a push–pull dynamics. Our data indicate that agriculture, rather than being a desertification agent, is a victim of a set of social and economic conditions leading to its abandonment and/or transformation in urban land, becoming irreversibly degraded by soil sealing. From 1975 to 2008, half a million ha of former agricultural land has been made available for development. Urban sprawl has become the most active desertification agent in Spain.

► Desertification is the result of active or inherited processes.
► Desertification in Spain is linked to a complex push–pull phenomenon.
► During 1980–2010 urban sprawl became a very active desertification agent in Spain.
► Urbanization-related soil sealing has led to irreversible impacts.
►  Policy and economic factors promoted the Spanish urbanization boom.