Barren area man found to be abandoned (8)
I believe the answer is:
deserted
'to be abandoned' is the definition.
('deserted' can be a synonym of 'abandoned')
'barren area man' is the wordplay.
'barren area' becomes 'desert' (I've seen this before).
'man' becomes 'ed' (short for Edward).
'desert'+'ed'='DESERTED'
'found' is the link.
(Other definitions for deserted that I've seen before include "Ran away from army" , "Illegally left army" , "Uninhabited" , "Abandoned, forsook" , "uncultivated" .)