The Global Symposium on Soil Erosion (GSER19), ‘Stop soil erosion, Save our future’ will be held from 15-17 May 2019, at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Headquarters in Rome, Italy. This science-policy meeting is co-organized by the UN FAO and its Global Soil Partnership (GSP), the…

A warmer world means more chance of extreme heat in more than one continent at the same time, and a rising threat to global food security.

Soil Use and Management publishes research papers, reviews, short communications and informed comment on the wide range of applications of soil science and provides an international forum for those applying scientific prinicples to understand and solve important soil problems as they affect crop…

Seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in September 2015 aim to end hunger and poverty, to protect the Planet, and to ensure peace and prosperity for all. The soil organic carbon (SOC) stock is a major planetary resource supporting many critically important ecosystem services (ESs)…

The objective of this study was to evaluate the desertification vulnerability of an approximately 1,000‐ha area in Anatolia, Turkey, comprising semiarid oak (Quercus spp.) and pine (Pinus spp.) forests and the adjacent cultivated lands by using the environmental sensitivity index (ESI).

GEO-6 is the world’s most comprehensive environmental report, covering a range of topics, issues and potential solutions. This flagship report shows how governments can put the world on the path to a truly sustainable future. It emphasizes that urgent and inclusive action is needed by decision…

The UNCCD library holds a specialized collection of monographs and series, reports, grey literature in fields of desertification, land degradation and drought, and its cross-cutting subjects such as development, economics, environment, land, soils, agriculture, energy, water, climate change…

Roughly a third of the five hundred million people living in the European Union is younger than 30 years old. According to a new EU report, demography is one of the three mega-trends that will shape Europe’s future up to 2030. Demographic trends show that Europe’s population is growing too slowly…

Biodiversity for food and agriculture is indispensable to food security and sustainable development. It supplies many vital ecosystem services, such as creating and maintaining healthy soils, pollinating plants, controlling pests and providing habitat for wildlife, including for fish and other…

Global research on the SDGs is dominated by publications in the environment, agriculture, health and sustainability science sectors, according to a study by the Institute for Scientific Information. The study is based on analysis of publications listed in the ‘Web of Science’ database. The study…

The explorer.land platform is an online storytelling tool for the presentation of sustainable forest and landscape projects. It is built around an interactive web map which integrates high resolution and up-to-date satellite and drone imagery as well as georeferenced posts and multimedia. It allows…

By investing in forestry education at all levels, countries can help ensure there are scientists, policy makers, foresters and local communities working to halt deforestation and restore degraded landscapes. In turn, healthy forests will help us to achieve many of the Sustainable Development Goals…

The 2019 theme for the International Day of Forests is ‘Forests and Education’ and we want the world to know how we educate children and youth about the importance of trees and forests. Today, when more than half the world’s population lives in cities and are increasingly disconnected from nature…

Degradation processes in living systems often take place gradually by front propagation. An important context of such processes is loss of biological productivity in drylands or desertification.

Water use has been increasing worldwide by about 1% per year since the 1980s, driven by a combination of population growth, socio-economic development and changing consumption patterns. Global water demand is expected to continue increasing at a similar rate until 2050, accounting for an increase of…

The report “State of Land in the Mekong Region” was launched 13 March 2019 in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The first publication of its kind in the Mekong Region, it brings together key data and information on the current status of, and changes in, land resources, their social distribution, and the…

The International Yearbook of Soil Law and Policy is a book series that discusses central questions in law and politics with regard to the protection and sustainable management of soil and land – at the international, national and regional level. Volume 3 of the International Yearbook of Soil Law…

The response hierarchy of “Avoid > reduce > reverse” is increasingly acknowledged as the best strategy for prioritizing actions designed to address land degradation at hectare to national scales. This hierarchy is based on the assumption that the economic return on investment (ROI) will usually be…

Much of the confusion about the definition of reference conditions for land health and degradation assessments is due to differences in policy and management objectives. Selection of a historic reference where it is not necessary, such as in the definition of future land degradation neutrality, can…

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes have been increasingly implemented in developing countries where gender-related inequalities are generally prevalent. A randomized field trial in Kenya revealed the impacts of participants’ gender in conservation auctions and in environmental performance…

This collection of 12 stories from women and men in nine countries in different parts of Africa shines a light on the efforts of communities, some of them decades-long, in restoring degraded forests and landscapes. The stories are not generated through any rigorous scientific process, but are…

Science and technology offer exciting pathways for rural women to tackle the challenges they face daily. Innovative solutions for rural women can, for example, reduce their workload, raise food production and increase their participation in the paid labour market. But even the very best innovative…

Every March, the United States’ National Reading Month encourages children to go on a quest to improve their reading skills and find a love for books. And kids and adults alike can follow Food Tank’s latest reading list to find books that satisfy their curiosity about the food system. The books…

The study examines long-term land use/land cover change (LUCC) at a finer scale in a semi-arid region of India. The objectives were to study and quantify the spatiotemporal LUCC and uncover the major drivers causing the change in the Mula Pravara river basin, which is located in a semi-arid region…

The 20th biennial Australian Rangeland Society (ARS2019) conference will be held in Canberra 2-5 September 2019 at the Kambri Convention Centre. The conference will bring together managers, researchers and policy makers to promote resilient rangeland environments and communities in times of change…