Land degradation and desertification reduce the provision of ecosystem services by lands and soils. This constrains development, reduces water, food, and energy security, and triggers resource conflicts. Although biophysical processes and economic impacts are increasingly understood, efforts to combat degradation have been failing thus far to prevent further losses of land productivity, a cost estimated at 42 billion USD/year (Dregne & Chou, 1992; Requier-Desjardins, 2007).

Human activity and related land use change are the primary cause of accelerated soil erosion, which has substantial implications for nutrient and carbon cycling, land productivity and in turn, worldwide socio-economic conditions. Here the authors present an unprecedentedly high resolution (250 × 250 m) global potential soil erosion model, using a combination of remote sensing, GIS modelling and census data. The authors challenge the previous annual soil erosion reference values as our estimate, of 35.9 Pg yr−1 of soil eroded in 2012, is at least two times lower.

Change in land management practices and governmental policies is urgently needed to reverse the continuing decline of marginal drylands. Marginal drylands are fragile ecosystems that sustain the livelihoods of millions of poor people in developing countries. However, their capacity to provide these services is continuously declining due to desertification, resulting in dwindling land productivity, and affecting human well-being and development opportunities in many marginal drylands.

The land use sector represents almost 25% of total global emissions. These emissions can be reduced. There is also great potential for carbon sequestration through the scaling up, and scaling out, of proven and effective practices. Improved land use and management, such as low-emissions agriculture, agro-forestry and ecosystem conservation and restoration could, under certain circumstances, further reduce the remaining emissions gap by up to 25%. These climate-smart land management practices nearly always come with adaptation co-benefits.

Land degradation is becoming a serious environmental issue threatening fertile agricultural soils and other natural resources. There are many driving forces behind land degradation. The expansion of artificial surfaces due to various economic activities, such as housing, industry, and transport infrastructure, known as soil sealing, constitutes one of the most intensive forms of land degradation in urban regions. Measures to halt and reverse land degradation require both strong land-use management policies, as well as effective spatial planning mechanisms.

This UNCCD-SPI technical report provides well-established scientific evidence for understanding the strong linkages between land use and drought and how management of both is connected through water use. It introduces a new concept of Drought-smart land management (D-SLM) and organizes relevant approaches and practices in fourteen groups across four major classes of land use.

The rise of urban populations has rendered cities in both developed and developing countries vulnerable to poor health and diseases that are associated with urban living conditions and environments. Therefore, there is a growing consensus that while personal factors are critical in determining health, the urban environment exacerbates or mitigates health outcomes, and as such the solution for improving health outcomes in urban settings can be found in addressing socio-environmental factors that shape urban environments.

In October 2016 the Liberia Land Authority (LLA|) was legislated as the Nation’s first one-stop-shop for land management and administration. The LLA has the statutory mandate to administer land administration across the nation. The Authority is charged with supporting the development of a National Land Use and Management Agenda.

Zimbabwe has been experiencing a rapid rate of urbanization amidst a failure by conventional approaches of urban land management to cope with the demand for housing. In view of these challenges, this paper investigates the feasibility and nature of land readjustment for urban land management in Zimbabwe. Using case study research methodology and a desk review of evidence from developed and developing countries the potential use of land readjustment in Zimbabwe is examined.

L’étude relative aux impacts des actions des ONG sur la gestion durable des aires protégées dans la reserve de Biosphere de Luki(RBL), dans la Province du Kongo central situées à l’Ouest de la RDC, montre que cette réserve regorge une diversité biologique particulière qui est soumise à une pression importante due aux activités anthropiques. Plusieurs ONG s’y implantent. Les enquêtes sur les activités de ces ONG ont été effectuées en vue d’en décéler les impacts sur la réserve et sur le développement de la population locale.