Abstract
Developing models capable of providing indicators integrating socio-economic and environmental dimensions in their spatial and temporal diversity, dealing with phenomena at the local level, and mobilizable in decision support systems, remains a topical challenge. to understand, spatialize, monitor, evaluate and anticipate the complex dynamics of desertification. This article presents the modeling approach imagined, and the prototype software platform called "information system for the operational monitoring of desertification at the local scale" (SIELO) to answer this scientific challenge. This system attempts to create the link between: i) spatialized indicators of desertification risk taking into account the systemic complexity of desertification; and ii) the Land Cover Change observed. The first type of data comes from pre-existing systemic models in the SIEL. The second type of data is extracted from satellite images acquired according to regular time steps. The approach relies on approaches of spatialization of knowledge, which mobilizes the "landscape" in particular. In this article, we focus on the description of the proposed approach to _ establish this link, and on the specificities that put it in a position to feed an operational monitoring of desertification within the framework of observatories at the local level. . We illustrate the feasibility and the operationality of its implementation with a first application to a Tunisian arid zone via a prototype software developed.