Natural and anthropogenic processes and products of mining affect quality of life in highly mineralised areas, such as the derelict Enyigba-Abakaliki agriculture-oriented lead–zinc mining area, which has degradation of land and groundwater resources. This study establishes that Nigeria and other developing nations should maximise the benefits and mitigate the negative impacts of adverse natural and mining activities so as to achieve poverty alleviation.

Humans have been changing the natural fire regimes in most Brazilian vegetation types for over 4000 years. Natural lightning fires can easily happen in savannas and grasslands, but they are rare in the moist rainforests. Today, anthropogenic fires are frequent in both the fire-adapted cerrado (Brazilian savanna) and the fire-sensitive rainforest. In this paper, I compare two very different biomes concerning their susceptibilities and responses to fire: the Amazon rainforest and the cerrado.

The Yanqi Basin, one of the most productive agricultural areas, has a high population density in Xinjiang, Northwest China. Land use changes, mainly driven by oasis expansion, significantly impact ecosystem services and functions, but these effects are difficult to quantify. The valuation of ecosystem services is important to clarify the ecological and environmental changes caused by agriculturalization of oasis.

In sub-Saharan Africa, natural vegetation is being transformed into agricultural lands at a fast rate, endangering ecosystem services and increasing soil-loss potential, which may trigger land degradation. For the Taita Hills study area in Kenya, multi-temporal land-cover models of 1987, 1999 and 2003, derived from Satellite Pour l'Observation de la Terre (SPOT) imagery using a multi-scale segmentation/object relationship modelling (MSS/ORM) methodology and a rainfall layer, a digital elevation model (DEM) and a digital soil map were applied to model potential soil loss.

The estimation of environmental sensibility to desertification at regional scale requires the setting up of elaboration and updating methodologies capable of handling considerable amounts of data in an integrated approach. This would allow evaluating the different stages of environmental degradation as well as the existing interactions among the singular components of the territory. These maps are also strongly related to climate conditions, land use changes and new data availability.

This work evaluated aroeira (Schinus terebinthifolius Raddi) seedling quality (diameter, height, dry weight and rootgrowth potential), cultivated in different plastic tube sizes and evaluated the seedling post-planting performance in the field cultivatedin plastic tubes and in plastic bags. It was found that plastic tube size and seedling densities, significantly, influenced the seedling quality(diameter, height, dry weight and root growth potential). The seedling post-planting performance did not show significant differencewhen cultivated in plastic tubes or in plastic bags.

A better understanding of the spatial linkage between the distribution of land vulnerable to degradation and long-term population growth may contribute to sustainable land management of dry regions. Such a nexus has received increasing attention among politicians and local stakeholders, as its complex outcomes depend on mutual interactions between socioeconomic and biophysical factors. This is particularly true in southern Europe, where important processes of land degradation (LD) have been observed in recent years.

This paper examines the interacting problems which govern poor access to quality drinking water, as well as the related problems of solid waste treatment and recycling. The need for a stable political resolution of the Israel–Palestine conflict is paramount. Although long-term solutions to the crisis require a regional political solution, there are several local activities that can reduce the degradation of water supplies and larger eco-systems. These include desalination of seawater and brackish water, water import and domestic water filtration units.

The world-wide debate on land degradation in arid lands, usually linked to local land use practices, does not reflect methodological advancements in terms of assessments and monitoring that integrate local communities' knowledge with ecological methods.

The island of Sri Lanka is free from serious natural hazards such as volcanic activity and earthquakes resulting from climatic extremes, but there are impacts of many natural disasters, such as landslides, floods and droughts, the intensity and frequency of which are increasing due to human interventions. Some areas of Sri Lanka are also periodically subject to cyclones that occur due to climatic conditions and geographical locations.Land degradation denotes all natural or anthropogenic processes that diminish or impair productivity of land.

Soil erosion negatively affects crop yields and may have contributed to the collapse of ancient civilizations. Whether erosion may have such an impact on modern societies as well, is subject to debate. In this paper we quantify the relationship between crop yields and soil water available to plants, the most important yield-determining factor affected by erosion, at the European scale. Using information on the spatial distribution of erosion rates we calculate the potential threat of erosion-induced productivity losses.

The development of synergies between efforts to mitigate land degradation and biological diversity decline can enhance effectiveness, speed up implementation and avoid potential conflicts. Due to the variable nature of these processes and to the variable characteristics of the areas where they occur, there is no general rule linking land degradation and biological diversity decline. Thus, a geographically limited approach focusing on drivers of change may provide a more appropriate base upon which synergies can be built. This exercise is undertaken for the case of northern Mediterranean.