Review on the use and the application of the ESA (Environmental Sensitive Areas) methodology and updating of the map of environmental sensitivity areas to desertification for the Basilicata Region, Italy.

The estimation of environmental sensibility to desertification at regional scale requires the setting up of elaboration and updating methodologies capable of handling considerable amounts of data in an integrated approach. This would allow evaluating the different stages of environmental degradation as well as the existing interactions among the singular components of the territory. These maps are also strongly related to climate conditions, land use changes and new data availability. The present paper proposes a complete review on the environmental sensibility areas index (ESA) methodology and its applicability in the Mediterranean context as an environmental management tool and a methodology for updating an ESA map, applied on the Basilicata Region (Southern Italy). The ESA map updating process with new spatial data sets, beside the interests for the updated information, represents a methodological reference for using and converting new spatial layer information into such scheme. An analysis of the differences among the two risk maps (past and present) is also presented.