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Rangelands cover 80 million square kilometers, over 54 per cent of the terrestrial surface, constituting the largest land use type in the world. As much as 50 per cent are degraded, imperiling 1/6th of humanity's food supply and 1/3rd of Earth's carbon reservoir. The majority of these grazing lands are in the drylands characterised by hyper-arid to sub-humid climates. Rangelands are highly diverse, both biologically and culturally, and include a range of biomes and ecosystems.

This analytical study was undertaken to establish a baseline for monitoring gender parity across the Convention in UNCCD subsidiary bodies and institutions: Committee on Science and Technology, Science Policy Interface, Bureau of the Committee for the Review of the Implementation of the Convention (CRIC), Bureau of the Conference of the Parties (COP), UNCCD Secretariat staff, and national…

The technical briefs "Gender-sensitive income generation and green job creation opportunities in the Central and West African Sahel within the Great Green Wall area" for Senegal and Burkina Faso examine green job and income opportunities in these countries as part of the Great Green Wall initiative, focusing on the challenges and opportunities women face in accessing these green jobs. The need…

Soils have achieved prominence in the political agenda of the European Commission with the proposal for a Soil Monitoring Law and the ambitious Soil Mission research framework. The EU Soil Observatory (EUSO) used the latest state-of-the-art pan-European datasets to propose a preliminary assessment of soil health in the EU based on 18 soil degradation proxy indicators. The body of knowledge will…

A growing body of empirical evidence shows that experiences of nature provide people with diverse psychological benefits, including improved cognitive function and mental health. While our understanding of the proximate causes of these positive psychological responses of humans to nature has advanced, the ultimate (evolutionary) drivers behind them remain poorly understood. In this…

During durst storms, also biological material is transported from arid areas such as the Sahara Desert. In the present work, rain samples containing significant amounts of mineral dust have been collected in Granada during different red rain episodes. Biological features (bacteria, biofilm, pollen grain and fungal spore) as well as size-particle distribution and mineralogical composition were…