Environmental land degradation is a major impediment to the utilization of land in many arid and semi-arid regions of the World and is a major issue in the East Nile Delta (END), Egypt. Waterlogging and salt-affected soil problems have serious implications for irrigated areas leading to socio-economic and agricultural development problems.

In any watershed, many factors influence land use/cover change (LUCC). The nonlinear relationships between these factors and LUCC are very complicated and make it difficult to build a model that is capable of accurately simulating the range of physical processes. The aim of this study was: (1) to simplify the structure of a simulation model and improve its simulation speed, and (2) evaluate the impact of land use/cover change on surface runoff and evapotranspiration.

AIM: To evaluate trend analysis of earth observation (EO) dense time series as a new way of describing and mapping changes in ecosystem functioning at regional to global scales. Spatio‐temporal patterns of change covering 1982–2011 are discussed in the context of changes in land use and land cover (LULCC). LOCATION: Global.

NO₃, Mn, Fe, and SO₄act as terminal electron acceptors (TEAs), modifying mineralization pathways and coupling biogeochemical cycles. Although single TEA concentrations and fluxes have been intensively studied, the factors regulating the simultaneous fluxes and molar ratios of TEAs are poorly elucidated. We studied the mean concentrations, exports, and molar ratios of TEAs from 27 boreal catchments differing in land cover (percentage of agricultural land, peatland, forest, and built-up area) during the years 2000–2011.

The Central Asian countries are particularly affected by the global climate change. The cultural and economic centers in this mostly arid region have to rely solely on the water resources provided by the rapidly melting glaciers in the Pamir, Tien-Shan and Alay mountains. By 2030, the available water resources will be 30 % lower than today while the water demand will increase by 30 %. The unsustainable land and water use leads to a water deficit and a deterioration of the water quality.

Simple and widely adopted sustainable soil management (SSM) practices, especially improvements in the management and quality of farmyard manure (FYM), have enabled many thousands of small-scale farmers in the Middle Hills of Nepal to increase organic matter in their soils. This has been achieved without increases in livestock numbers or in the quantity of manure available. The organic matter contents have increased in all of five time series of on-farm topsoil monitoring over periods of one to three years, at rates varying from 2% to 27%.

India has a maximum area (21.6%) under cashew nut and is the third largest producer (17.3%) of raw nuts in the world. The country is the second largest exporter, accounting for 34% of the world’s export of cashew kernels having a comparative advantage in production and processing on account of its cheap and skilled labour force. The yields in India are poor at 860 kg/ha as compared to 4,125 kg/ha in Vietnam and 2,000 kg/ha in Nigeria.

Historic land‐cover/use change is important for studies on climate change, soil carbon, and biodiversity assessments. Available reconstructions focus on the net area difference between two time steps (net changes) instead of accounting for all area gains and losses (gross changes). This leads to a serious underestimation of land‐cover/use dynamics with impacts on the biogeochemical and environmental assessments based on these reconstructions.

Protected area downgrading, downsizing and degazettement (PADDD) is a global phenomenon that has not received formal attention in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) policies designed to reduce forest carbon emissions and conserve biodiversity. Here, we examine how PADDD affects deforestation and forest carbon emissions. We documented 174 enacted and 8 proposed PADDD events affecting more than 48,000 km² in three REDD+ priority countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malaysia, and Peru.

Changes in land use and climate and their significantly impacts on the hydrological cycle are of widespread concern to researchers and policy makers. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is used to analyze the effects of land use change and climate variability in the upper Naoli River watershed in the Sanjiang plain, northeast China. The remarkable land use changes include the decrease of woodland and wetland along with the farmland increasing.

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.

SUMMARYSemi-structured interviews were used to explore how rural communities near forests are responding to environmental change in three African nations — Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Rwanda. The study first recounts people's perception of environmental change — what are the issues of greatest concern identified by local communities? Second, it explores people's responses to identified environmental problems and in particular the role of forests in these processes.