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…

Four widespread forms of SLM have been examined in the new publication "SLM in Asia: Introducing the Landscape Approach" by William Critchley and Frank Radstake in collaboration with Asian Development Bank - ADB. It is referring to specific WOCAT case studies and the WOCAT database. Have a look at…

The policy requests to develop trends in soil erosion changes can be responded developing modelling scenarios of the two most dynamic factors in soil erosion, i.e. rainfall erosivity and land cover change. The recently developed Rainfall Erosivity Database at European Scale (REDES) and a statistical…

By 2050, nearly 10 billion people will live on the planet. Can we produce enough food sustainably? The synthesis report of the World Resources Report: Creating a Sustainable Food Future shows that it is possible – but there is no silver bullet. This report offers a five-course menu of solutions to…

Rural communities in drylands are often poorer than elsewhere and the land is more vulnerable to degradation from climate change and direct human pressures. Poor management can lead to desertification. We know how to manage drylands sustainably, but often do not achieve this in practice; policies…

Why Europe should care more about environmental degradation triggering insecurity- Hartmut Behrend in " Global Affairs" Volume 1; Issue 1; 2015

Its preservation is essential for food security and our sustainable future. Today, 33 percent of land is moderately to highly degraded due to the erosion, salinization, compaction, acidification and chemical pollution of soils.

Sustainable management of the natural resources is one of the key issues that the international community will have to address over the next two decades. An overview of where land and soil degradation takes place, at what intensity and how land users are addressing this problem through sustainable…

The African Union (AU) Great Green Wall for the Sahara and Sahel Initiative (GGWSSI) has recently launched the Great Green Wall Award in Burkina Faso for the promotion and sustainable management of land. It is intended to reward the work of media professionals. They must submit their productions…

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…

Sampling and analysis or visual examination of soil to assess its status and use potential is widely practiced from plot to national scales. However, the choice of relevant soil attributes and interpretation of measurements are not straightforward, because of the complexity and site-specificity of…

Most emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O) are linked to the use of nitrogen (N) fertiliser in agriculture, highlighting a need for agricultural management practices that reduce emissions while maintaining agronomic productivity. A new study has assessed the long-term impact of conventional tillage (CT —…

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…

Soils have been the neglected environmental media for a long time. However, several food crises at the beginning of this century have brought a change in perspective of late. Since then, the indispensable value of soils for humans and for the conservation of the environment as a whole has been…

In 2015, alone, climate-related disasters displaced 14.7 million people, a new report from CARE Danmark shows. Unless governments take strong preventive action and invest in adaptation, climate change-related phenomena could push the total number of permanently displaced as high as 250 million…

Twenty years have passed since the last atlas of desertification was published. Within that short period enormous global changes have taken place in terms of human expansion and the impact that had on the environment. Equally significant progress has been made in understanding the fundamentals of…

Soil erosion costs European countries €1.25 billion in annual agricultural productivity loss and €155 million in the gross domestic product (GDP) loss, according to a JRC new study. Soil erosion is the biggest threat to soil fertility and productivity, but the consequences do not stop there. A…

Humankind has always relied on clues from the environment to survive, to plant seeds when the rains come, to harness wind power to grind grain. It is only in the last few decades that we have the tools to observe the entire planet. Technology and scientific collaboration allow us to measure the full…