Number 1

One of the most sensitive regions of the country – the south of the Romanian Plain – is starting to be renowned for the onset of desertification. The intensification of land degradation in this area was the result of both direct and indirect factors such as weather conditions, the fauna and flora, and last but not least the features of the relief. The augmentation of the processes that stimulate the degradation of the pedological resources and of life-supporting attributes are due to anthropogenic factors as well, which leads to unsustainable land exploitation by regional users on the precarious background created by global climate change. These factors are poverty, government policies, industrial activities, incorrect management of land use, deforestation, overgrazing, unsuitable farming and irrigation practices, misuse of chemical fertilisers.