Soil and water loss due to traditional intensive types of agricultural management is widespread and unsustainable in Croatian croplands. In order to mitigate the accelerated land degradation, we studied different cropland soil management strategies to obtain feasible and sustainable agro-technical practices. A rainfall simulation experiment was conducted at 58 mm h–1 over 30 min on 10 paired plots (0.785 m2), bare and straw covered (2 t ha−1). The experiment was carried out in maize cultivation (Blagorodovac, Croatia) established on Stagnosols on slopes.

Among the UNCCD SDGs 2030, there is the recognition that land consumption can strongly affect the provision of ecosystem services. From the perspective of land degradation neutrality, urban level is the right scale when planning actions against land consumption. The aims of this research are: (1) to assess land consumption at urban landscape scale and its effects on natural capital flow provision; and (2) to identify sustainable strategic planning choices for land consumption mitigation and natural capital enhancement.

In order to ensure the sustainability of production from agricultural lands, the degradation processes surrounding the fertile land environment must be monitored. Human-induced risk and status of soil degradation (SD) were assessed in the Northern-Eastern part of the Nile delta using trend analyses for years 2013 to 2023. SD hotspot areas were identified using time-series analysis of satellite-derived indices as a small fraction of the difference between the observed indices and the geostatistical analyses projected from the soil data.

Forestry systems, including afforestation and reforestation land uses, are prevalent in drylands and aimed at restoring degraded lands and halting desertification. However, an increasing amount of literature has alerted potentially adverse ecological and environmental impacts of this land use, risking a wide range of ecosystem functions and services. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate the potentially adverse implications of dryland forestry and highlight the caution needed when planning and establishing such systems.

The Mexican Forest Code establishes structural reference values to differentiate between secondary and old-growth forests and requires a management plan when secondary forests become old-growth and potentially harvestable forests. The implications of this regulation for forest management, restoration, and conservation were assessed in the context of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, which is located in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Discussions on the relationships between forests and water have primarily focused on the biophysical nature of these relationships. However, as issues such as land degradation affect the ability of forests to provide water-related ecosystem services resulting in water insecurity, the human dimension of the forest–water nexus has become more evident. This has resulted in the identification of the forest–water nexus as an issue that requires urgent recognition within major international policy processes and where knowledge gaps on the global state of the nexus exist.

In Colombia, one-third of the land is devoted to cattle farming, which is one of the main drivers of deforestation, land degradation, loss of biodiversity, and emissions of greenhouses gases. To mitigate the environmental impacts of cattle farming, agroforestry practices have been extensively promoted with mixed results. Despite research and extension efforts over the last 20-year period, agroforestry systems still involve a complex knowledge process among stakeholders that needs to be addressed.

Shear strength is an important mechanical property of soil, as its mechanical function plays critical roles in reducing land degradation and preventing soil erosion. However, shear strength may be affected by vegetation type through changes in the soil and root patterns. To understand the influences of different types of vegetation on shear strength, the soil shear indices of three typical vegetation types (broad-leaved forest, coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest, and grassland) were studied and evaluated at the Fengyang Mountain Nature Reserve, China.

Fragmentation has long been considered the primary cause for ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss worldwide. Forest fragmentation affects ecosystem functioning and biodiversity in multiple ways. Here, we ask how forest fragmentation influences aboveground biomass storage (AGB) in sub-tropical forests in China. We established 207 20 m × 20 m plots within 69 forest fragments of varying size. Forest fragmentation process simulation was carried out via repeated quadrat sampling using different sized quadrats in two non-fragmented stands.

Research Highlights: This study was carried out to diagnose the forest ecosystem damaged by air pollution and to then develop a restoration plan to be used in the future. The restoration plan was prepared by combining the diagnostic assessment for the damaged forest ecosystem and the reference information obtained from the conservation reserve with an intact forest ecosystem. The restoration plan includes the method for the amelioration of the acidified soil and the plant species to be introduced for restoration of the damaged vegetation depending on the degree of damage.

Climate change, land degradation, and desertification lead to the loss of carbon present in the soil and plants. The carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration in the atmosphere has reached 412 ppm. This is a rise of 47% since the start of the industrial period, when the concentration was close to 280 ppm. Therefore, the sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere to earth is the need of the hour. Many scientists have suggested agroforestry as a potent instrument for climate change mitigation as well as to fetch lucrative benefits.

Human agricultural activities have resulted in widespread land degradation and soil contamination in the karst areas. However, the effects of reforestation after agricultural abandonment on the mobility risks and contamination of heavy metals have been rarely reported. In the present study, six soil profiles were selected from cropland and abandoned cropland with reforestation in the Puding karst regions of Southwest China.