The objective of the project is to develop a comprehensive method for monitoring desertification in the south of the Mediterranean basin, which provides information useful for the operational management of arid lands and which involves all the affected countries. The main purpose is to discriminate, at local scale, (and after elimination of seasonal fluctuations) areas where soil and vegetation are degrading, where they are stable, where they are recovering (after restoration action has been taken, e.g.). In addition, the understanding of the relationships between those changes and land use will be a major objective.

This aim is an answer to the need for reliable and detailed data on the condition and evolution of arid zones as has been strongly expressed by officials in charge of environmental policies. Desertification in the northern shore of the Mediterranean is already a concern at the European level. The southern shore is far more affected because of the dryer climate, the inherent fragility of the ecosystems and high demographic pressure ; a strong political will to tackle this phenomenon exists at national and international levels (confer the international Convention to Combat Desertification).

The general concept is to integrate all available data on the studied environments. This will include data collected on the ground as well as data acquired by Earth Observation programmes. The scientific approach relies heavily on the experience and results already gained by different partners. This approach includes the identification of ground indicators of local ecological changes (degraded condition, stable, restored,...), the determination of those that can be remotely sensed, the selection of the most adequate high resolution satellite data, the refinement and the design of processing algorithms and data output. This « bottom-up » approach will then be applied to historical records of data to identify long term changes.

• collection, harmonisation and fomatting of field reflectance spectra: the MEDSPEC data base
• common methodologies detailed through 3 workshops (+1 meeting) allowing all the scientists (particularly young ones) to be trained together (in the field and on computers) and to visi 3 different test sites
• change detection experiment on the 4 test sites: in Morroco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt (using images from Spot and Landsat satellites over 15 years time span)
• convergence on reference techniques : preparation of CAMELEO manuals based on the application of common methodologies to various project experiments
• regional ecozoning with NOAA satellite data

• Analysis of GAC NDVI data for cropland identification and yield forecasting in Mediterranean african countries
  by Fabio Maselli & Felix Rembold
• Assessment of vegetation changes in semi-arid areas by the use of NOAA-NDVI and meteorological data by Felix Rembold, Fabio Maselli and Giampiero Maracchi
• Effects of environmental spatial variability on the differences between NOAA-AVHRR LAC and GAC NDVI data, par Felix Rembold, Fabio Maselli and Paolo Rossini
• Déconvolution des signatures spectrales de séries d'images satellitales: application à la surveillance écologique des milieux arides, par Sonia ZINE
  (Mém. DEA Univ.Marne la Vallée, sept.2000)
• Méthodes de détection de changements en télédétection spatiale par Slim BOUZIRI
  (Mém. Ingénieur CUST, sept.1999)
• Contribution à l'étude de la dynamique de la végétation steppique après une mise en défens de longue durée : cas de la station d'amélioration pastorale Anbad Boumalne Dades (Ouarzazate) par Driss OUASKIOUD, IAV Sept. 1999
• Etude sur les conditions du transfert des résultats scientifiques du projet CAMELEO. Présentation des processus nationaux de mise en oeuvre de la CCD dans les pays africains partenaires par Youssef BRAHIMI, OSS, Décembre 1999
• CAMELEO: a concerted research effort to develop validated desertification monitoring techniques in Northern Africa par Richard Escadafal et Jacques Mégier, Paper presented at the Intern. Symposium held in Tunis, 23-27 Nov 1998
• MEDSPEC - Une base de données pour l'utilisation des données spectrales dans l'étude de l'environnement par H.Bohbot, H.Preissler, W.Mehl, S.Sommer, Poster presented at the Intern. Syposium held in Tunis, 23-27 Nov 1998
• Desertification watch in Tunisia: land surface changes during the last 20 years and onwards par Richard Escadafal et Sinan Bacha (Conference in Malta, May 1996)
• Potentialité de l'instrument VEGETATION pour le suivi de la désertification: simulation de la détection des mouvements de sables en Afrique du Nord par R.Escadafal, W.Mehl, S.Bernard, S.Bacha
• Projet d'aménagement et de mise en valeur des parcours de la tribu des Ait Zekri (Observatoire Issugui) par A.Zouhri et A.Khana