Land is front and center of the sustainable
development and climate change debates. A
goal dedicated to Land Degradation Neutrality
(LDN) (see Box 1) was endorsed in 2015 by the
United Nations (UN) General Assembly as part
of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
2015–2030 framework, following on from the
UN’s Millennium Development Goals of 2000
(UN General Assembly, 2015). SDG 15 aims to
“protect, restore and promote sustainable use
of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage

Agenda of the Closing workshop on 'the assessment of the economics of land degradation in Central Asia' project, on 28-29 November 2016

Policy recommendations on sustainable land management in Uzbekistan, including costs and benefits of alternative options. Conclusion: Diversifying agricultural production, retaining biomass in the field, and planting strips of forest can lead to economic and environmental benefits.

Policy recommendations on sustainable land management in Tajikistan, including costs and benefits of alternative options. Conclusion: Implementing no-till technology and intensifying gardening productivity creates economic benefits while reducing land degradation.

Land degradation is a pressing concern that reaches
across all republics of Central Asia and is increasingly
affecting the economy and quality of life in each.
The resulting loss of arable land particularly affects
the rural poor, who depend directly on what
the land can provide for their very survival and
livelihoods. The breakup of the Soviet Union led to
mass de-collectivisation of agricultural frameworks
across Central Asia, with formerly centralised land
management regimes dissolved. The reorganisation

Policy recommendations on sustainable land management in Kyrgyzstan, including costs and benefits of alternative options. Conclusion: Summer pastures across the Kyrgyz Republic can provide greater economic and environmental benefits through improving pasture yields sustainably

Policy recommendations on sustainable land management in Turkmenistan, including the costs and beneifts of alternative options. Conclusiion: Rehabilitating pasturelands and undertaking sustainable land management in deserts across Turkmenistan brings both economic and environmental benefits

Teff, Eragrostis tef /zucc./ Trotter is one of the most important cereal crops in Ethiopia that occupies (32%), the largest cultivated area under cereals and 26% of the whole area cultivated to annual field crops by covering about two million hectares of land annually. Tef is adapted to environments ranging from drought stress to water logged soil conditions. It can be grown at altitude ranging from sea level to 3000m above sea level, with the maximum production occurs between 1700 and 2400m.

The present research focuses on estimating forest area change with respect to the ongoing forest land conversion. The study tests the hypothesis that forest land is being converted to the selected land use categories with high growth tendency and controlling deforestation rate to its half of the present level would significantly improve the land cover under forest. The rate of forest land conversion to other land use categories is analyzed and then compared with the total area expanded under three land use classes.

This journal article discusses the importance of empowering grassroots community to facilitate the sharing of climate change and REDD+ related information, knowledge and policies discussed at the national, regional and global level to local stakeholders.

This article explores the role of local particularism in relation to the global interest in urban agriculture (UA). A growing movement is advocating UA, but future prospects are limited by variability, unclear expectations, vague responsibilities and leadership in the UA movement. We wonder whether the poor understanding of UA governance is associated with a public discourse and academic literature that too easily adopt the generic and universally claimed benefits.

Transit-oriented development (TOD) has been proposed as a model for sustainable urban and regional development beyond the troubled heritage of modernistic planning. Key to TOD is mixed use and reduced dependence on private cars. However, functionalistic land-use divides persist in the principles of TOD, such as the division between leisure and work and between permanent residences and second homes. These divides relate to, and are emphasised by, a strong focus on urban qualities within the TOD discourse, while discussions on landscape amenities are set aside.