South winds blowing on the eastern edge of a disturbance on Morocco drag dust raised in the Sahel to the Iberian Peninsula

Modeling variations in soil salinity in the oasis of Junggar Basin, China Ligang Ma, Shengtian Yang, Zibibula Simayi, Qing Gu, Jiadan Li, Xiaodong Yang and Jianli Ding Version of Record online: 15 FEB 2018 | DOI: 10.1002/ldr.2890 Carbon Balance as Affected by Biosolid Application in Reforestations…

League of Arab States, World Meteorological Organization, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and UN Environment organized the Regional Training Workshop on Sand and Dust Storms in the Arab Region in Cairo, Egypt from 10 to 12 February 2018. The workshop was hosted by the…

The newly released World Bank report, Groundswell: Preparing for Internal Climate Migration, analyzes this recent phenomenon and projects forward to 2050. Focusing on three regions — Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Latin America – the report warns that unless urgent climate and development…

This editorial represents a clarion call for the aeolian research community to provide increased scientific input to theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and an in-vitation to apply for ISAR funding to organize a…

Climate change can both directly and indirectly drive human migration. Despite this, strong understanding of the system of determinants of migration and their interactions, remains a knowledge gap resulting in large uncertainties and ill-informed interventions

Mineral dust aerosols are an essential component of climate over West Africa, however, little work has been performed to investigate their contributions to potential climate change. A set of regional climate model experiments with and without mineral dust processes and land cover changes is…

Sand and Dust Storms (SDS) are extreme meteorological phenomena that generate significant amounts of airborne mineral dust particles. SDS play a significant role in different aspects of weather, climate and atmospheric chemistry and represent a serious hazard for life, health, property, environment…

A new study has quantified the economic impact of reducing avoidable food waste in Germany, Poland and Spain. The researchers modelled impacts on production, GDP and employment. The results show that reducing food waste from households has the greatest impact, although policy measures should be…

The World Bank is pleased to release the 2018 Atlas of Sustainable Development Goals. With over 180 maps and charts, the new publication shows the progress societies are making towards the 17 SDGs. It’s filled with annotated data visualizations, which can be reproducibly built from source code and…

ISRIC, the international centre for world soil information, is a pioneer when it comes to Data Management. ISRIC has worked on compiling and harmonising data on soils for over 50 years. It makes the data available in a FAIR manner and supports open data where possible. ISRIC is therefore a real WUR…

In March this year, an unusual sand and dust storm nicknamed ‘Mars on Earth or Orange Snow[1]’ transported and deposited dust that transformed European landscapes into a surreal orange-tinted scenery. An even more drastic dust storm swept over India recently and left behind a trail of casualties.[2]…

The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2018 highlights progress being made in many areas of the 2030 Agenda. Since the turn of the century, the maternal mortality ratio in sub-Saharan Africa has declined by 35 per cent and the under-five mortality rate has dropped by 50 per cent. In South Asia, a…

The Senior Officials of the UN have agreed at EMG SOM 24 in the margins of UNGA to form a Coalition to Combat Sand and Dust Storms. Major tasks of this coalition will include raising awareness, convening stakeholders and raising the proper amount of funds to help combat this phenomenon. A few other…

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…

Authors have written a convincing paper establishing the association between prenatal timing and exposure to sand and dust storms and children's cognitive functioning in China. This research is undoubtedly important, given that an estimated 150 parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat…

Erosion by wind is one of the principal processes associated with land degradation in drylands and is a significant concern to land managers and policymakers globally. In the drylands of North America, millions of tons of soil are lost to wind erosion annually. Of the 60 million ha in the United…

Desert dust whipped up by strong winds and volcanic aerosols alter the climate as the world warms

In the dry stretch between Africa’s Sahara Desert and tropical forests, the landscape has been slowly changing, giving new signs of life in places where there was previously none, or where there once was before the effects of climate change took hold. These are the building blocks of the Great Green…

FAO offers novel assessment of trees and forests in the world’s drylands Geospatial data and global network of partnerships produces new insights on more than 40 percent of the earth’s surface

A growing body of research on the links between climate change, fragility and conflict shows that climate change will make peacebuilding more urgent and complex. Climate-sensitive peacebuilding has the potential to significantly contribute to addressing climate-fragility risks. The Peacebuilding…

Dust and sand storms(DSS) occurrences often have an adverse impact on organisms’ life styles and their environment, not only in the source region but also in the downwind regions.

Almost four years ago, CIFOR organized a side event on the tropical dry forests of Africa at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties in Durban, South Africa. At that event, we identified the major issues affecting dry forests in Africa and…

The papers present original research on land (soil and vegetation) degradation and desertification in drylands (and related subjects) using spectroscopy and remote sensing tools and techniques.

This paper reviews the role of dry forests in providing goods and services to the rural poor.