PURPOSE: Land use in dry lands can result in a final stage where land is completely depleted or entirely degraded causing the desertification phenomenon. The first part (part 1) of this series of two articles proposed a methodology to include desertification in life cycle assessment (LCA). A set of variables to be measured in the life cycle inventory, characterization factors, and an impact assessment method for the life cycle impact assessment phase were proposed.

Based on soil characteristics, watertable level, mineral composition of plant biomass, morphological/reproductive traits and carbon discrimination values, a new concept for the classification of halophytes was developed. Six main groups of halophytes have been described within the desert flora of Central Asia. Significant changes on chemical contents of ions: Cl⁻, SO₄ ²⁻, HCO₃ ⁻, Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺ and Mg²⁺among 23 studied halophytic forage species were revealed.

This study aims to document various community efforts in land rehabilitation and assess their potential. Data were captured using interviews and focus group with 150 community members. A public participation index was used to establish the extent of community efforts in land rehabilitation. The study revealed that in the absence of proper management and dune stabilisation, large areas covered with mobile sand dunes continue to be a threat to grazing lands in northern Kenya. In recognition of this threat, the people of North Horr have launched several initiatives to contain the problem.

Human-induced soil degradation is a serious and complex environmental challenge in Iran. For a long time, human activities, namely the overuse of land, have been influencing the natural processes on and in soils; therefore, various types of soil degradation can be observed in many parts of the country. The understanding and the consideration of direct and indirect effects of human activities on soils are indispensable for the prediction of the human impact on soil degradation processes.

Spanish mountains have been affected by the expansion of shrubs and forests since the mid‐20th century. This secondary succession in vegetation has some positive effects, but also drawbacks, such as an increase in fire risk, loss of diversity in land use, a reduction in landscape and cultural value, less water available in river channels and reservoirs, constraints on livestock farming, a reduced number of local species and loss of biodiversity.

In coastal sandy soils, the establishment of a plant cover is fundamental to avoid degradation and desertification processes. A better understanding of the ability of plants to promote soil microbial process in these conditions is necessary for successful soil reclamation. The current study was to investigate the ability of four different plant species to regenerate the microbiological processes in the rhizosphere soil and to discuss which species were the most effective for the reclamation of the coastal zone.

In order to understand the genetic diversity of wild Ussurian pears in China, chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) of 186 wild accessions from 12 populations in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Jilin Provinces and 51 Chinese and European pear cultivars including Pyrus ussuriensis, Pyrus pyrifolia, Pyrus bretschneideri, Pyrus sinkiangensis and Pyrus communis were investigated. Each accession was classified into one of three types (types A, B and C) based on two large deletions in the hypervariable regions between the accD–psaI and rps16–trnQ genes.

Soil erosion and contamination are two main desertification indices or land degradation agents in agricultural areas. Global climate change consequence is a priority to predict global environmental change impacts on these degradation risks. This agro-ecological approach can be especially useful when formulating soil specific agricultural practices based on the spatial variability of soils and related resources to reverse environmental degradation.

Examples of sustainable land management (SLM) exist throughout the world. In many cases, SLM has largely evolved through local traditional practices and incremental experimentation rather than being adopted on the basis of scientific evidence. This means that SLM technologies are often only adopted across small areas. The DESIRE (DESertIfication mitigation and REmediation of degraded land) project combined local traditional knowledge on SLM with empirical evaluation of SLM technologies.

Indicator-based approaches are often used to monitor land degradation and desertification from the global to the very local scale. However, there is still little agreement on which indicators may best reflect both status and trends of these phenomena. In this study, various processes of land degradation and desertification have been analyzed in 17 study sites around the world using a wide set of biophysical and socioeconomic indicators.

Managing land sustainably is a huge challenge, especially under harsh climatic conditions such as those found in drylands. The socio-economic situation can also pose challenges, as dryland regions are often characterized by remoteness, marginality, low-productive farming, weak institutions, and even conflict. With threats from climate change, disputes over water, competing claims on land, and migration increasing worldwide, the demands for sustainable land management (SLM) measures will only increase in the future.