Dryland mountains are among the least-known environments in the world, and certainly one of the most overlooked by decision- and policy-makers. Dryland mountains have an outstanding strategic value. They act as water towers for surrounding dry lowland areas, as shown by the examples of the Rocky Mountains of North America, the Central Andes, the mountains of the Mediterranean Basin, the Sahara and Sub-Saharan Africa, West Asia, and Central Asia

In the past decades, debates on agriculture, land use and management of natural resources have coined a wealth of new terms. In many cases, these are in full vogue for just a period, replace older ones or are used for political reasons. Meanwhile, there are so many terms that it is difficult to keep track and distinguish them from each other.

LADA (Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands project) is a scientifically-based approach to assessing and mapping land degradation at different spatial scales ? small to large ? and at various levels ? local to global. It was initiated in drylands, but the methods and tools have been developed so as to be widely applicable in other ecosystems and diverse contexts with minimal required adaptation.

Asia and the Pacific, for the purposes of this book, encompasses a vast territory extending from Mongolia in the north to New Zealand in the south; from the Cook Islands in the east to Kuwait in the west (Map 1). The environmental diversity of Asia and the Pacific is therefore vast, and is contrasted by the region’s coldest and hottest deserts, verdant tropical rainforests, extensive steppe, desert steppe, grassland and rangelands, mountains and plains.

Au Burkina Faso, le potentiel en terres arables à vocation agricole est épuisé. À l’avenir, la population en rapide expansion ne pourra être nourrie que s’il est possible d’accroître les rendements sur les terres cultivées existantes. Grâce à la construction de cordons pierreux le long des courbes de niveau, il est possible de mieux exploiter l’eau de pluie et de stopper l’érosion.

Since the publication of the Report of the Brundtland Commission (Our Common Future) in 1987, and the consequent Earth Summit on sustainable development, global attention on natural resource scarcity and degradation has been increasing, because of climate change and rising food and energy prices. This awareness, in turn, has led to growing interest in land investments by the private and public sectors. Despite this interest, however, land degradation has not been comprehensively addressed at the global level or in developing countries.

The objectives of the Costing Adaptation through Local Institutions (CALI) study were (a) to identify the costs of adaptation through local institutions, and (b) to investigate which institutions help households adapt to climate variability, which efforts and costs are needed to realize the adaptation options, and how they facilitate adaptation to climate variability. The study was carried out in Ethiopia, Mali, and Yemen. This report discusses the results for Yemen.

The economic dimension of desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) is increasingly gaining importance.

For this reason, the UNCCD has launched an initiative to help make the economic side of desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) an integral part of policy strategies and decision-making. An important step in this direction was the Partnership meeting on the Assessment of the »Economics of Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought« ( EDLDD), held December 14 – 15, 2010.

International policy and decision makers now recognize that the link between environmental change and migration has grave consequences for human security. The paradigm of security has shifted away from purely state-centered models to a model that encompasses the greater idea of human development as freedom. The new model implies greater international awareness of the importance of sustainable development for all people – including an intact environment and the ability of all people to enjoy good health and respectable work.

Les acteurs politiques et décideurs internationaux reconnaissent à présent que le lien entre changement climatique et migration a de graves conséquences sur la sécurité humaine. Le paradigme sécuritaire s’est déplacé, passant de modèles purement centrés sur l’état à un modèle englobant cette grande idée du développement humain qu’est la liberté.

Aquellos que formulan políticas y decisiones internacionales reconocen que la relación entre el cambio medioambiental y la migración tiene graves consecuencias para la seguridad humana. El paradigma de la seguridad se ha alejado de los modelos centrados exclusivamente en el Estado para acercase a un patrón que contempla una idea más amplia: la del desarrollo humano como modelo de libertad.