In this article, you can find:

• an overview of how desertification threatens Mediterranean Europe in the context of climate change,

• insights into how the ESA (Environmentally Sensitive Area) Index integrates climate, soil, vegetation, and human impact data to assess risk,

• MEDES’ role in improving data quality and developing new databases for land degradation assessment,

• details on the innovative use of both standard and advanced risk assessment technologies, and

• expected outputs: high-resolution maps, statistical and graphical analyses, and territorial reports to inform decision-making.

This article highlights how MEDES, within the MONALISA project, is advancing desertification sensitivity mapping to support sustainable land management and climate adaptation strategies in Europe.