The estimation of environmental sensibility to desertification at regional scale requires the setting up of elaboration and updating methodologies capable of handling considerable amounts of data in an integrated approach. This would allow evaluating the different stages of environmental degradation as well as the existing interactions among the singular components of the territory. These maps are also strongly related to climate conditions, land use changes and new data availability.

Higher irrigation quota for conventional farming causes substantial conflicts between water supply and demand in agriculture, and wind erosion near soil surface is one of the major causes of farmland degradation and desertification in arid areas. This research investigated the effect of the amounts of irrigation in combination with tillage practices on soil evaporation (E), water consumption (ET) characteristics, and grain yield performance and water use efficiency (WUE) for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) intercropped with maize (Zea mays L.) in strip planting in an Oasis region.

We measured productivity and diversity of annual plant communities in human—made pits and mounds (20 ° 30 ° 100 cm) in the Northern Negev of Israel. We differentiated the species according to propagule size, dispersal mode, and geographical distribution in Israel. Our results in 28 experimental units containing a pit, a mound, and a portion of the undisturbed surrounding "matrix" showed that species richness, total plant density, and biomass yield were higher in the pits and mounds than in the matrix.

Semi-arid Mediterranean regions are highly susceptible to desertification processes which can reduce the benefits that people obtain from healthy ecosystems and thus threaten human wellbeing. The European Union Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 recognizes the need to incorporate ecosystem services into land-use management, conservation, and restoration actions. The inclusion of ecosystem services into restoration actions and plans is an emerging area of research, and there are few documented approaches and guidelines on how to undertake such an exercise.

Progress in combating aeolian desertification (land degradation resulting from wind erosion) has been achieved in an agro‐pastoral ecotone of northern China since the mid‐1980s. This paper reviews three common measures used to combat and control aeolian desertification in such regions. In addition, it introduces a case study on the recovery of a degraded semi‐arid ecosystem to provide regional lessons and support theoretical and practical approaches to desertification prevention and reversal on a global scale.

Desertification is one of the main environmental and also social and economic problems facing Iran. Seventeen out of 31 Iranian provinces, which are home to approximately 70% of the total population, are affected by desertification. This study aimed to use geographic information system (GIS) and fuzzy logic for mapping environmentally sensitive areas to desertification based on Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use approach in Isfahan province, central Iran.

China is a developing country plagued by a long-term and large-scale desertification, which causes serious environmental problems. At the same time, China also has a long history of fighting desertification, especially in the recent decades. Thus, we think China's experience and lessons may be very important and useful for other developing countries to promote the degradation mitigation and life improvement.

Land degradation and desertification is a common feature in Mediterranean landscapes due to extensive and intensive land use and natural or man induced disturbances. The ecosystem may need external inputs to recover its composition and function as soils are often impoverished and vegetal key stone species lost. We evaluated the effects of the application of fresh and air-dried biosolids in the establishment and morphological and physiological performance of seedlings of Pinus halepensis and Quercus ilex under dry Mediterranean field conditions.

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) does not distinguish between natural and human drivers, and between active and inherited desertification. Partly as a result of these ambiguities the UNCCD has attracted a low level of international attention. As the Spanish case study shows, this vagueness hinders the implementation of effective strategies to combat this global challenge.

Karst rocky desertification (KRD) is a type of land degradation especially prominent in southwest China. This article analyzes the anthropogenic driving forces of KRD at two scales: rural locality and its macro socio‐economic circumstances. At the rural locality scale, the intensive human pressure on land because of a large and fast growing population and unsustainable land use are identified to be the reason for KRD. However, more radical driving forces lie in the farmers' disadvantages in social‐economic circumstances, which compel them to overuse rural land.