This study is based on data collected from 141 family-type farms in the Yatenga province in Burkina Faso. A probit approach is used to analyze the effect of perception of land degradation and other factors on the adoption of zaï and stone rows. The results of the estimation show that the availability of organic matter from small ruminants is determinant for the adoption of both zaï and stone rows. Although most of farmers are aware of the causes and consequences of land degradation, this factor does not significantly impact on farmers’ decision to invest in SWC measures.

In the semi-arid Main Ethiopian Rift Valley, ecological succession is related to continuous lake retreat. Human activity, through its impact on land use and cover, affects this ecological succession at various degrees. Through a remote sensing study, we explored how the drivers for land use and cover changes (LUCC) have changed over the last decades and which impact this has on ecological succession.

Dryland areas cover about 41 % of the Earth’s surface and sustain over 2 billion inhabitants. Soil carbon (C) in dryland areas is of crucial importance to maintain soil quality and productivity and a range of ecosystem services. Soil mismanagement has led to a significant loss of carbon in these areas, which in many of them entailed several land degradation processes such as soil erosion, reduction in crop productivity, lower soil water holding capacity, a decline in soil biodiversity, and, ultimately, desertification, hunger and poverty in developing countries.

Land degradation mapping is a problem-solving task that aims to provide information for allocating budgets and materials to counter the deterioration of land resources. Typically, it entails the implementation of a set of indicators in a GIS to appraise the severity of land degradation across a territory. Nevertheless, the selection of these indicators has proved to be challenging in practice and often this selection reflects one particular and thus limited perspective of land degradation.

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.

This paper examines the changes in land use/cover types in the degraded environment of central Tanzania over the last 45 years, and how such changes have influenced agricultural and livelihoods sustainability, especially in the Irangi Hills. Changes of land use/cover were measured through aerial photographs interpretations, while local perceptions and description of change were addressed through household interviews and field observations. The results of this study show that there have been variations over the years in terms of both the areas and spatial distribution of cultivated fields.

Desert biological soil crusts (BSCs) are formed by adhesion of soil particles to polysaccharides excreted by filamentous cyanobacteria, the pioneers and main producers in this habitat. Biological soil crust destruction is a central factor leading to land degradation and desertification. We study the effect of BSC structure on cyanobacterial activity. Micro‐scale structural analysis using X‐ray microtomography revealed a vesiculated layer 1.5–2.5 mm beneath the surface in close proximity to the cyanobacterial location.

One of the most serious problems currently affecting agricultural productivity in developing countries of the tropics, including Nigeria, is land degradation. This study assessed the farmers’ perception of the effects of land degradation on agricultural activities in Ethiopia East LGA of Delta State. A multi-stage sampling technique was used in the selection of the respondents. A total of 60 farmers were randomly selected through the use of structured interview schedule. The data were analyzed using frequency, percentage and mean statistic.

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.

Due to the increasingly serious ecological degradation of land systems, the land ecological security issues have attracted more and more attention of policy makers, researchers and citizens. Aiming at overcoming the disadvantages in subjectivity and complexity of the currently used assessment methods, an integrative fuzzy set pair model for assessing the land ecological security was developed by integrating fuzzy assessment and set pair analysis (SPA).

Deep, linear gullies are a common feature of the present landscape of the Karoo of South Africa, where they were known locally in the early twentieth century as ‘sluits’. Recent research has shown that many of these features are now stable and are no longer significant sediment sources, although they are efficient connectors in the landscape. Because most of the gully networks predate the first aerial photographs, little is known in the scientific literature about the timing of their formation.