This report evaluates the requirements
for an assessment of climate change impacts on agriculture
to guide policy makers on investment priorities and phasing.
Because agriculture is vital for national food security and
is a strong contributor to Brazil's GDP growth, there
is growing concern that Brazilian agriculture is
increasingly vulnerable to climate variability and change.
To meet national development, food security, climate

"Ecosystem services" has
become a catch-phrase for the complex connections between
the natural environment and human well-being. This paper
considers the impact of changes in the supply of ecosystem
services, and programs to increase their supply, on
near-term growth of gross domestic product. It focuses on
the relationship between locally generated versus
transboundary services and growth in developing countries,

Desertification/land degradation is rarely accounted for as an economic issue, and drought barely accounted for as a disaster. Because desertification, land degradation and drought are slow and silent phenomena, they have a way of creeping up on us and thereby leading us to underestimate their socio-economic impacts.

La désertification et la dégradation des terres sont rarement considérées comme un problème économique et la sécheresse est à peine considérée comme une catastrophe. Du fait que la désertification, la dégradation des terres et la sécheresse sont des phénomènes lents et muets, ils progressent peu à peu, nous conduisant à sous-estimer leurs incidences socio-économiques

La desertificación/degradación de la tierra raramente está considerada como un tema económico, y la sequía rara vez como un desastre. Dado que la desertificación, la degradación de la tierra y la sequía son procesos lentos y sigilosos, su avance es subrepticio, y nos inducen a subestimar sus efectos socioeconómicos.

Migratory species come in all shapes and sizes, from tiny insects and birds to large buffalo and elephants, to sharks and dolphins or snakes . Whether their journey crosses thousands of kilometers, or just a few, migratory species play essential roles in ecosystems worldwide. But their diverse habitats are threatened by land degradation and desertification.

Les espèces migratrices sont très variées, depuis les insectes et les oiseaux jusqu’aux bisons et aux éléphants, depuis les requins et les dauphins jusqu’aux serpents. Qu’elles parcourent des milliers de kilomètres ou quelques kilomètres seulement, ces espèces jouent un rôle essentiel dans les écosystèmes du monde entier. Mais leurs divers habitats sont menacés par la dégradation des terres et la désertification.

Las especies migratorias existen en todos los tamaños y formas, desde los de minúsculos insectos y pequeñas aves hasta grandes búfalos y elefantes, pasando por tiburones y delfines o serpientes. Tanto si el viaje que realizan es de miles de kilómetros como de unos pocos, las especies migratorias desempeñan papeles esenciales en los ecosistemas de todo el planeta. Pero sus diversos hábitats se encuentran amenazados por la degradación de las tierras y la desertificación.

Mapping land degradation and desertification (LDD) at the global scale still is a conceptual and operational challenge. The present study has been performed in the frame of the WAD (new World Atlas of Desertification) initiative. The objective of the paper is to test a structured procedure to identify relevant indicators for an effective representation of complex global LDD issues, based on available data sets (both geo-spatial and statistical), and conform to the UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification) requirements.

Human activities as well as natural events can dramatically affect land degradation negatively or positively. In Egypt, agriculture is a key sector of the economy. Land reclamation seeks to transfer desert areas to agricultural land and support the construction of new villages. The agricultural productivity improvement of these Newlands is slow and requires considerable time due to their fragility and sensitivity to desertification.

A number of studies have dealt with the assessment of potential and actual desertification risk using composite indices. The Environmental Sensitivity Areas (ESA) approach, developed in the framework of MEDALUS project funded by the European Community, is one of the most used procedures to monitor land vulnerability to degradation in the Mediterranean region. The final output of this procedure is an index (ESI) composing four indicators of climate, soil, vegetation, and land management based on 14 elementary variables.

Overgrazing is a primary agent to cause and aggravate desertification in the Horqin Sandy Grassland of northern China that has reduced the capacity of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) storage in the region. Grazing exclosure practice is recommended to control the desertification by vegetation restoration. How the restoration improves the C and N storage needs to be answered to the policy makers for their future land use planning and decisions.