Five sites have been selected by the Executive Committee. Their prime objective is to allow the development of modelling, scaling and validation activities, particularly in what concerns the integration into the DeSurvey Surveillance System.

For all these sites, large in-situ datasets are available and they have already been selected in the frame of other EU projects on the relevant issues for DeSurvey. Consequently, it exists important experiences and feedbacks on these sites.

Moreover, the main EU countries affected by desertification are represented here. Due to their geographical distribution, they also cover the significant E-W climatic gradient of the Mediterranean area.

The five selected sites are:

Site	Country	Characteristics	Focal point
Lagadas	Greece	Livestock and grazing	Vasilis PAPANASTASIS (AUTH)
La Mancha	Spain	Irrigated agriculture	José Maria TARJUELO (UCLM)
Alentejo	Portugal	Multiple land uses, West, Semi-arid	Pedro CASIMIRO (UNL)
Abbruzos	Italy	Multiple land uses, Central, Sub-humid	Andrea FAIS (INEA)
Central Crete	Greece	Multiple land uses, East, Semi-arid	Giorgios TSIOURLIS (NAGREF-FRI)