A lone grain of sand, on its own, is completely harmless. It travels on its journey carried by the wind, by water, or even hitchhikes on a living being, barely noticed as it meanders through the landscape. When a grain of sand joins up with others to become a sand dune, it can become a force that…

This research investigates the human impact on land-cover dynamics in arid agro-ecosystems. Using remote sensing and ancillary datasets combined with classification and regression tree (CART) models, we mapped land-cover class distributions over 22 years (1988–2009) to characterize agricultural…

Waste of food, natural resources, and human talent taking a toll on Mediterranean agriculture and rural development. New book examines shared challenges facing the region's food systems — and options for responding. Loss and degradation of land. The book warns of "the whittling away of arable land…

The European Environment Agency’s five-yearly assessment ‘The European environment – state and outlook 2015’ (SOER 2015)

This study used the types of land tenure and livestock production scale to develop a farmer typology to explore the relation between livestock farmers' knowledge about, attitude towards and practices of three land management actions in Mier and Molopo-Taung, South Africa.

The GEO regional assessments provide detailed analysis of regional environmental challenges as well as key findings and policy messages for each of the 6 UNEP regions. These are important for policy makers working in the regions to provide solid evidence and policy options which will help tackle…

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…

Africa’s natural wealth underpins the continent’s current and future welfare. In addition to natural resources this wealth encompasses a broad range of benefits from nature to society. These ‘ecosystem services’ include clean water for growing cities, insect pollination for agriculture, medicinal…

Soil sealing for urban and infrastructure development constitutes the most intense form of land degradation and affects all ecosystem services. Researchers and policy makers have become aware of this fact and call for limiting development and compensating for new soil sealing with unsealing measures…

Without dramatic reductions in greenhouse-gas emissions, most of the planet's land-based ecosystems -- from its forests and grasslands to the deserts and tundra -- are at high risk of 'major transformation' due to climate change.

This study presents a meta-analysis of case studies that investigate the adoption of soil and water conservation measures, as an important approach to resource conservation.

Soil is a natural resource essential to human welfare by virtue of its numerous crucial functions.