Land-use change is currently the most important direct driver of biodiversity loss on land, with climate change, overexploitation, pollution and invasive species not far behind. Human activities are altering natural habitats and reshaping life on Earth’s surface says "Living Planet Report 2020 -…

Plastic pollution is a globally recognized problem, with an estimated 322 million metric tons produced in 2016, excluding plastic fiber production. When evaluating the risks three main sources of microplastics (MPs) should be considered; polymer nanoparticles manufactured for specific purposes like…

A Manual for Gender-responsive Land Degradation Neutrality Transformative Projects and Programmes and Land Degradation Neutrality: Interventions to Foster Gender Equality.Women constitute the bulk of people who rely on land in many of the regions most affected by desertification, land degradation…

Most commonly in drylands the salinity levels are always high and evenly dispersed due to this salinity levels the plant cultivated are usually tremendously affected. Normal plants cannot grow in soils with high salinity levels. In this book the authors would like to analyze the effects of human…

Drought “is the death of the earth,” wrote the poet T. S. Eliot. A lack of water withers crops, kills trees, and dries up streams and lakes. Humans have long tried to cope by migrating to wetter regions or inventing new ways of moving water to where it is needed, including by pumping it out of the…

Statistics on global water challenges are daunting: 3 billion people don’t have basic handwashing facilities. A quarter of the world’s population live in countries facing extremely high water stress. There are more than 500 dead zones — areas of the ocean without enough oxygen for most marine life…

In-depth national studies on land, climate, energy, agriculture and development in the 11 Sahel countries show how manifold potentials of the region could be better harnessed. At an online event in January this year, researchers from national research institutes and universities in the Sahel region…

In recent years, several major drivers have put the world off track to ending world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. The challenges have grown with the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures. This report presents the first global assessment of food insecurity and…

The Global Symposium on Soil Pollution (GSOP18) will take place at FAO headquarters in Rome on 2 - 4 May, 2018. The Symposium aims to provide scientific evidence to support actions and decisions to prevent and reduce soil pollution for increased food safety, security and nutrition, and ecosystem…

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…

Special Issue Title: Salt Soil Improvement and Efficient Development

In September 2019, Heads of State and Governments will convene for the first time in person at the United Nations in New York to review progress on their promises made after four years of working on Agenda 2030. While some countries are slowly moving forward with SDG-focused policies, they are not…

This publication introduces SLM and its principles and presents how good SLM practices in Bosnia and Herzegovina were documented, evaluated, selected and scaled through participatory land use planning processes. High demand for agricultural products and raw materials produced on land is under…

The Global Mechanism of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and private sector asset manager Mirova have launched the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund, co-promoted and structured by the two partners since December 2015. The Fund is described as the first-ever privately managed…

The thirteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification has concluded with the adoption of 37 decisions. The meeting launched the Land Degradation Neutrality Fund and the UNCCD flagship publication, the ‘Global Land Outlook’. Brazil, India, and Liberia…

This book comprehensively describes the major ecosystem services in dryland environments that are provided by typical land use, including forestland, grassland and farmland, using the Loess Plateau, Northwest China as an example. It offers extensive information on land policy, implementation and…

The Land Degradation Neutrality Initiative of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) encourages each of the 123 signatory countries to stabilise or reduce their extent of degraded land. Land degradation is assessed using the methods described in the Good Practice Guidance (GPG) document…

Does the conversion of natural habitats to human use favour animals that harbour agents causing human disease? A global analysis of vertebrates provides an answer to this pressing question.

Immediate measures on agriculture, forestry, wetlands and bioenergy can cut down a third of the emissions to keep temperatures below 1.5°C

“It is surely our responsibility to do everything within our power to create a planet that provides a home not just for us, but for all life on Earth”—Sir David Attenborough, BBC Planet Earth II, 2016.

Soil pollution may be invisible to the human eyes, but it compromises soil capacity to provide ecosystems services, including the production of safe, nutritious and sufficient food. Contaminants move through soil, air and water and enter into agri-food systems, affecting the environment and harming…

In eastern Niger, 241 hectares of degraded land was converted into productive farms for 10,770 women through the Bio-reclamation of Degraded Lands (BDL) system. This has resulted in a 50% increase in agri-income over non-BDL participants. These impacts are from a mid-term evaluation study conducted…

Public Policy Guidelines for Integrated Landscape Management​​​​​​​. Conventional policy approaches that assume land can have one priority objective while ‘trading-off’ other objectives are no longer viable in much of the world.

New global database of trees affirms the need for greater conservation and protection of forests to slow the pace of global warming

Land is an essential building block of civilization yet its contribution to our quality of life is perceived and valued in starkly different and often incompatible ways. Conflicts about land use are intensifying in many countries. The world has reached a point where we must reconcile these…