Karst rocky desertification is a typical type of land degradation in the Southwestern China. It has great ecological and economical implications for the local people. Landsat images from the middle of Guizhou Province collected in 1974, 1993 and 2001 were used for change detection of the pattern of Karst rocky desertification. The results show the following findings: (1) Desertification area expanded drastically in 27 years, at an increasing rate about 116.2 km²/year. (2) High areas (900-1,500 m) are the most affected.

In Mongolia, overgrazing and mismanagement are considered to be the causes of soil erosion and land degradation. However, the field data available on soil erosion and land degradation processes are limited. Two experimental watersheds were selected within the Kherlen river basin in Mongolia to assess the state and cause of soil erosion; this was done by monitoring the water-sediment discharge in two small catchments with different vegetation covers. The two sites-Kherlenbayan-Ulaan (KBU; 6.9 ha) and Baganuur (BGN; 7.6 ha)-have relative heights of 100 m and 150 m, respectively.

This article investigates the effects of wheat genetic diversity and land degradation on risk and agricultural productivity in less favored production environments of a developing agricultural economy. Drawing production data from a household survey conducted in the highlands of Ethiopia, we estimate a stochastic production function to evaluate the effects of variety richness, land degradation, and their interaction on the mean and the variance of wheat yield. Ethiopia is a center of diversity for durum wheat and farmers manage complex variety mixtures on multiple plots.

"An economywide, multimarket model is constructed for Ghana and the effects of agricultural soil erosion on crop yields are explicitly modeled at the subnational regional level for eight main staple crops. The model is used to evaluate the aggregate economic costs of soil erosion by taking into account economywide linkages between production and consumption, across sectors and agricultural subsectors... Sustainable land management (SLM) is the key to reducing agricultural soil loss.

This Tool Kit has been prepared to support the design and implementation of sustainable land management (SLM) programs.The specific purpose of the Tool Kit is: to inform the user of the approaches that can be followed to analyze and value the economic costs of land degradation and the benefits of sustainable land management. ‘Land’ is interpreted broadly in the Tool Kit, also including wetlands and coastal zones.

De EU-Bodemstrategie en het voorstel voor een Kaderrichtlijn Bodem (KRB) dat daaraan gekoppeld is, betekenen een nieuwe visie op het Europese beleid op het gebied van de bodem. Nagegaan wordt wat de mogelijke betekenis van een bodemstrategie en/of ¬richtlijn is voor het huidige landbouwbeleid. Uit de analyse blijkt dat de directe impact van het huidige voorstel voor een KRB beperkt is voor de Nederlandse landbouw.

Keywords: biofuels; land degradation; technology adoption; fuel-savings efficiency; stove R&D; household and community tree investments; fuelwood availability; animal dung; biogas; urban fuel demand; rural hinterlands; northern Ethiopia. Fuel scarcity and land degradation are intertwined problems of global concern. Land degradation affects some 2 billion hectares of land world-wide. In Africa some 500 million hectares of land have been affected by land or soil degradation, including about 65 percent of the continent’s agricultural land.

Most early alley cropping studies in semi-arid Kenya were on fairly flat land while there is an increase in cultivated sloping land. The effectiveness of aging contour hedgerows and grass strips for erosion control on an about 15% slope of an Alfisol was compared. The five treatments were Senna siamea hedgerows with tree prunings applied as mulch to crops (H + M), hedgerows with crops with prunings removed (H), mulch only applied to crops (M), crops with Panicum maximum grass strips (G), and a sole crop control of a rotation of maize (Zea mays) and cowpea (Vigna unguiculata).

La herramienta de mapeo (o cartográfica) del WOCAT/LADA se basa en el cuestionario de mapeo original del WOCAT (WOCAT, 2007). Este ha sido ampliado para prestar más atención a cuestiones como la degradación biológica e hídrica y hacer más hincapié en las causas directas y socioeconómicas de esos fenómenos, incluyendo los impactos sobre los servicios ecosistémicos. Se evalúa el tipo de degradación de la tierra que esta ocurriendo actualmente, dónde y por qué ocurre y qué se hace al respecto en términos de Manejo Sustentable de Tierras (SLM), bajo la forma de un cuestionario.

Con ocasión del Año Internacional de las Montañas (2002), la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO) y sus asociados emprendieron una sistematización mundial en gran escala de la situación actual y futuras tendencias de la gestión integrada y participativa de las cuencas hidrográficas. Los objetivos generales eran promover el intercambio y la difusión de experiencias de gestión de cuencas de 1990 a 2000, y determinar un paradigma para una nueva generación de programas y proyectos de gestión de cuencas.