This guidelines booklet is addressed to the LADA partner countries and, more in general, to the increasing number of countries which are expressing their interest in implementing the LADA approach for mapping Land Degradation. The specific objective is to provide guidelines for the identification, selection and description of nationally based indicators of land degradation. The LADA approach is well defined by a range of specific documents and manuals. The National indicators common to all countries are based on the LADA-Wocat QM manual.

Insect pests, diseases and other biotic agents have considerable impacts on forests and the forest sector. They can adversely affect tree growth and the yield of wood and non-wood products. Damage caused by forest pests can significantly reduce wildlife habitat thereby reducing local biodiversity and species richness.

Desertification, land degradation and drought affect more than 2 billion people and the situation might worsen due to the unsustainable use of soil and water under present scenarios of climate change. The UNCCD 10-year strategy points out the importance of science, knowledge sharing systems and awareness raising to support policymakers in reversing this trend. Sustainable land management practices, including sustainable agriculture, provide important local, regional and global benefits.

Established in 1994, the United Nations to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The Convention addresses specifically the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as the drylands, where some of the most vulnerable ecosystems and peoples can be found.

En el mundo hay 1.700 millones de agricultores y agricultoras en situación de enorme vulnerabilidad frente a los impactos del cambio climático. Muchos ya padecen hambre, lo que los hace aún más vulnerables. Pero existen experiencias exitosas de cómo fortalecer la capacidad de recuperación a nivel local. Reproducir y ampliar los éxitos es la fuente de esperanza para estos agricultores, y además puede contribuir a afrontar el problema del cambio climático.

The drylands of Africa, exclusive of hyper-arid zones, occupy about 43 per cent of the continent, and are home to a rapidly growing population that currently stands at about 325 million people. Dry zones, inclusive of hyper-arid lands, cover over 70 per cent of the continent’s terrestrial surface. Outside of the cities many dryland inhabitants are either pastoralists, sedentary or nomadic, or agro-pastoralists, combining livestock-rearing and crop production where conditions allow.

This paper explores how a 'conflict and violence sensitive' framework in project assessment, design and implementation facilitates early identification and mitigation of negative consequences of competition and dispute, and promotes sustainable development over the longer term. It discusses the role of renewable resources in perpetuating conflict and violence, and distills lessons from selected development programming experiences in managing conflict risks associated with these dynamics.

The study discusses land-degradation in pastoral communities and depicts land-use system and associated human and livestock population pressure as the major determinant of vegetation cover, surface run-off, soil erosion, and species richness. The study recommends use of enclosures to reverse range degradation, and diversification of pastoral economies to reduce poverty and relieve pressure on land as the primary source of livelihood in the semi-arid rangelands of Kenya

Climate change presents a profound challenge to food security and development. Negative impacts from climate change are likely to be greatest in regions that are currently food insecure and may even be significant in those regions that have made large gains in reducing food insecurity over the past half-century. Adaptation in the agricultural sector is being given a high priority within this effort because of the inherent sensitivity of food production to climate and the strong inter-linkages that exist between climate, agriculture, and economic growth and development.

Human activities have resulted in unprecedented phenomena and severe impacts for the 21st century such as land degradation, natural resources scarcity, climate change, and a rapid decline in biodiversity. These alterations engender secondary effects such as political conflicts, disputes over resources, social disruptions and sudden shocks of catastrophic weather events which are becoming more frequent in critical regions of the world, particularly in drylands; and exacerbate threats for human, national and international security.

The Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) for Timor-Leste identifies environmental priorities through a systematic review of environmental issues in natural resources management and environmental health in the context of the country's economic development and environmental institutions. Lack of data has been the main limitation in presenting a more rigorous analysis. Nevertheless, the report builds on the best available secondary data, presents new data on the country's wealth composition, and derives new results on the costs of water and air pollution.

This paper empirically explores the political-economic determinants of why governments choose to tax or subsidize trade in agriculture. The authors use a new data set on nominal rates of assistance (NRA) across a number of commodities spanning the last five decades for 64 countries. NRAs measure the effect on domestic (relative to world) price of the quantitative and price-based instruments used to regulate agricultural markets. The data set admits consideration of both taxes and subsidies on exports and imports.