ALBERT

Description: Publication year: 2012 Source: Procedia Environmental Sciences, Volume 14 Elena Achim, Gabriela Manea, Iuliana Vijulie, Octavian Cocoş, Laura T”rlă The paper aims to make an overall assessment of drought related problems, and to shed some light on land degradation and aridity in Romania, with particular emphasis on Dăbuleni Town belonging to the Dolj County. The main research methods employed for this study were observation, survey and cartographic method, which made use of GIS techniques. A map with the current spatial distribution of the forest belt fragments overlapping the initial vegetation was accomplished. The investigation has found that these patches cover small areas lying in the immediate vicinity of the Dăbuleni town. We suggest that in order to mitigate the impact of climatic modifications and to prevent land degradation the reconstruction of forest protection belts created between 1970 and 1980 is a must, in as much as in their present condition they can no longer protect the hydrotechnical improvements and the lands. However, project implementation is hindered by the lack of cadastre and funds. At the same time, the population and the landowners in the area need to be explained the importance of forest protection belts for the improvement of environment and living conditions, for the gradual diminishing of drought effects and for the enhancement of agricultural production. Another problem that must necessarily be settled is the development of a methodology for granting compensations to those landowners who agree to change the use of their agricultural lands so as to allow the creation of forest protection belts.