The state of the Arab environment stands at a pivotal juncture with numerous environmental problems both current and imminently threatening the region. Among the major challenges being faced are water scarcity, land degradation and desertification, inadequate waste management, coastal and marine environment degradation and air pollution.
Using the Khanasser Valley in Syria as an example, this paper looks at Integrated Natural Resource management (INRM) as an approach to tackle land degradation. The authors argue that INRM is a better approach because of its comprehensive nature and simplification of the inherently complex socio-ecological systems.
This African atlas is the first publication to use satellite photos to depict environmental change in each and every African country during the last thirty years. Through an array of satellite images, graphs, maps, and photographs, this Atlas presents a powerful testament to the adverse changes taking place on the African landscape as a result of intensified natural and human impacts.
Across vast areas of the world, human activity has degraded once fertile and productive land. Deforestation, overgrazing, continuous farming and poor irrigation practices have affected almost 2 billion hectares worldwide, threatening the health and livelihoods of over one billion people.
This paper examines the impact of land reform on agricultural productivity in Tajikistan. Recent legislation allows farmers to obtain access to heritable land shares for private use, but reform has been geographically uneven. The break-up of state farms has occurred in some areas where agriculture has little to offer but, where high value crops are grown, land reform has hardly begun.
This report analyses the impact of climate change and land degradation on agriculture and related sectors in Viet Nam.
In the face of trends towards a widening “food gap” and general poverty, this paper attempts to address the problem by discussing the methodologies necessary for sustainable land management to ensure improved food security, rapid economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries of Africa.
There is growing degradation in sylvo-pastoral lands that were originally under common property regimes, but over which the state now asserts ownership. User associations are being given the right to take charge of regulating how these areas are sustainably exploited by means of use agreements, and are proving an effective instrument in halting the degradation process.
The magnitude of the environmental and social consequences of soil erosion and land degradation in semiarid areas of the Mediterranean region has long been recognized and studied. This paper investigates the interrelationship between land use/cover (LULC) changes and land degradation using remotely sensed and ancillary data for southeastern Spain.
This paper presents a methodology for the geological engineering survey of land degradation in urban environments using both remote sensing and geoprocessing tools. The area under study was the city of São Carlos, state of São Paulo, Brazil (urban and expansion area). The data presented here were obtained from earlier studies, photointerpretation and geological engineering mapping.
Durant son enfance, Cécile Bibiane Ndjebet, qui a grandi dans une région reculée du Cameroun, avait une conscience aiguë des difficultés auxquelles les femmes rurales faisaient face. Elle voyait sa mère et d'autres femmes travailler de l'aube au crépuscule, pour s'occuper de la terre, des animaux et élever les enfants. Beaucoup d'entre elles effectuaient un travail éreintant sur des terres qu'elles ne pourraient jamais posséder en raison des pratiques socioculturelles traditionnelles.
