All publications & documents
Mapping the world's degraded lands

Highlights • We review prominent databases and provide the first spatially explicit comparison of estimates. • Current estimates of degraded lands are hindered by missing and sometimes unreliable information. • Global estimates of total degraded land range widely from less than 1 Gha to over 6 Gha. • …

Mapping the world's degraded lands
Impacts of sand and dust storms on agriculture and potential agricultural applications of a SDSWS

This paper will give an overview of the various impacts of sand and dust storms on agriculture and then address the potential applications of a Sand and Dust Storm Warning System (SDSWS) for agricultural users. Sand and dust storms have many negative impacts on the agricultural sector including: reducing crop yields by burial of seedlings under sand deposits, the loss of plant tissue and reduced…

Impacts of sand and dust storms on agriculture and potential agricultural applications of a SDSWS
Toward Global Drought Early Warning Capability: Expanding International Cooperation for the Development of a Framework for Monitoring and Forecasting

Drought is a global problem that has far-reaching impacts, especially on vulnerable populations in developing regions. This paper highlights the need for a Global Drought Early Warning System (GDEWS), the elements that constitute its underlying framework (GDEWF), and the recent progress made toward its development. Many countries lack drought monitoring systems, as well as the capacity to respond…

Toward Global Drought Early Warning Capability: Expanding International Cooperation for the Development of a Framework for Monitoring and Forecasting