La Mancha plain is located in the south east of Spain, in the Castilla-La Mancha region. The area is classified as semiarid, with water scarcity, groundwater resources overexploitation and a high risk of desertification, being representative of the climate problematic and the Mediterranean basin. Soils are not very deep and traditional crops of the Mediterranean basin (cereal, vineyard, etc.) are grown. Agricultural financial assistance policies, especially payments under the CAP, are the main determining factors in the crop distribution of the area. Likewise, the policies developed by the regional government related to agriculture, outline both the production and the cultivation methods.

The main characteristics of La Mancha site are summarised hereafter:

Site name	Eastern La Mancha
Partners	Regional Water Research Centre (CREA) Castilla-La Mancha University (UCLM)
Site location
Geodetic coordinates	X=587000 Y=4332500 (UTM-WGS84)
Area	1225 km²
Province	Albacete
Region	Castilla-La Mancha
Country	Spain
General conditions
Climatic conditions	Average precipitation: 300 - 400 mm/y Average temperature: 13 - 14°C
Agriculture and socioeconomic aspects	Currently, agriculture is one of the major activities in the region because of the great number of employments and keeping the population in the rural areas. The main crops, especially herbaceous grown extensively, are very dependent on the CAP and its evolution, due to the very low profitability of the crops grown in dry land. Growing large surfaces of cereals entails that during most of the year, the soil surface remains without any crop, what favours its erosion and degradation. This is made worst because of the fact that it is compulsory to maintain a certain percentage of the surface without cultivating in order to obtain financial assistance. The vineyard is an important crop, due to its extension and its social importance. It needs a high investment in labour, generally involving family, and displays a great added value. Extensive horticulture has the same characteristics, although the land it occupies is lower. From a socio-economic point of view, the use of water to irrigate plays an essential role, even though there is a high risk of overexploiting and contaminating the aquifers. An analysis of the interaction between agriculture and desertification will be conducted within the selected area, 90% of which is used for agriculture, being a 26% irrigated.
Soil characteristics	The geologic materials that can be found at the surface belong to the Superior Pliocene. These materials cover 80% of the studied surface and are made of limestone, marl, gravel and sandstone. Pleistocene materials cover 15% of the total surface and are located in the North and South East of the area. These include both run gravel and sand. Holocene materials constitute the remaining 5%. They take up river Júcar terraces (polygenic gravels and sandstones) or the karst collapse areas made of fine gravel filled with clay, lime and sand. Most of the soils of the area (around 80%), have carbonate horizons, so they are included within the main group "Calcisols", according to FAO methodology (1988), being "petric calcisols" (the most frequent one) and "haplic calcisols" soil units represented. There are soils with clay illuvial horizons associated to old alluvial systems, on both River Júcar banks. They are included within the main group Luivisols, "calcilc luvisols" and "chromic luvisols" to be precise. There are also "chromic cambisols" and "calcaric fluvisols" soils, although they are less frequent.
Land condition	Soil degradation studies developed within the area of the EFEDA project, include a system of indicators consisting of a range of properties, playing organic matter an essential role. According to such studies, the following percentages of surface for each of the seven groups established are obtained (from very low to very high): Degradation level Biological degradation (%) Physical degradation (%) Chemical degradation (%) Soil degradation (%) Very high 0 7 5 75 High 4 60 12 15 Moderately high 75 20 70 10 Moderated 15 10 10 0 Moderated low 6 3 3 0 Low 0 0 0 0 Very low 0 0 0 0
Land characteristics	Sleep range (%) Area (%) Land cover Area (%) Land use (CORINE nomenclature) Area (%) 0.0 - 0.5 67.2 Agricultural areas 92.8 Arable land 75.4 0.5 - 2.0 16.4 Forest and semi-natural areas 4.6 Heterogeneous agricultural areas 12.0 2.0 - 10.0 16.2 Artificial surface 1.9 Permanent crops 5.4 >10.0 0.2 Others (wedlands, water bodies, etc) 0.7 Forest 3.0 Shrub and/or herbaceous vegetation association 1.6 Urban fabric 1.4 Inland waters 0.6 Industry, commercial and transport units 0.3 Others 0.3
Research projects in the site	In the area a lot of European, national and regional projects have been developed. The most relevant European projects are listed below: EFEDA-I, EU: Study about the causes of desertification in a representative area of the Mediterranean basin. EFEDA-II, EU: Study about the causes of desertification in a representative area of the Mediterranean basin. MERIT, EU: Modelization of water management in the HU Eastern Mancha, using Bayesian networks. NIWASAVE, EU: Efficiency improvement in the use of water and the fertilisation when irrigating. Currently, there are several models and applications obtained thanks to those projects, which assist in the decision-making process related to interventions within the area.
Stakeholders	The acquired experience during previous European, national and regional projects in the area, has allowed us to develop a fruitful relationship among public administrations, users associations and the UCLM research teams. The following stakeholders could be possible users of the DeSurvey outputs: Environment Ministry, i.e. Ministerio de Medio Ambiente; "MMA"; Confederation of Júcar River, i.e. Confederación Hidrográfica del Júcar, "CHJ" (manager of water resources and representative of the Environment Ministry), Agricultural Technical Institute of Albacete, i.e. Instituto Técnico Agronómico Provincial, "ITAP" (expert organization on technological transfer within the agricultural sector), the regional government, i.e. "Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha", "JCCM" (it is in charge of establishing the policies related to land arrangement, environment and management of the financial assistance that is given to agriculture), a regional water users association, i.e. "Junta Central de Regantes de la Mancha Oriental", "JCRMO" (representative of those farmers who irrigate within the area), other farmers~ associations, environmentalists and the University of Castilla-La Mancha, "UCLM" (as an educational, training and research institution).
Information database	Only available for DeSurvey consortium