Environmental Issues in the Mediterranean: Processes and Perspectives from the Past and Present (Routledge Studies in Physical Geography and Environment)

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.