All publications and documents

Monitoring and assessing land degradation dynamics involves extracting the most relevant information from time series of global satellite observations. The longest available satellite observation datasets with global coverage at 1-km resolution, from, e.g., the SPOT VGT sensor, have a continuous frequent temporal sampling over a long enough period, now 15 years, to allow extraction of proxy…

Power Point Presentation for the Global Landscapes Forum London, 10 June 2015 WHY AN INVESTMENT FUND? 12 million hectares of land are degraded every year by human activities. By rehabilitating this land: we create a land degradation neutral economy, we achieve food security by 2050, we contribute to biodiversity conservation , we mitigate climate change by sequestering up to 20% of…

Farm and forest producer organizations are of critical importance to the sustainable use of our natural resources, now and into the future. So says the growing consensus of global opinion. And they hold the key to overcoming many issues, from poverty and human rights, to environmental degradation and biodiversity conservation. Producer organizations represent the collective voices of farmers and…

During 25 years of work, the Rural Poverty Reduction Programme (LUCOP) has developed soil and water conservation/soil protection and restoration (SWC/SPR) methods adapted to forest and rangeland on plateaux, slopes, cropland and valley bottoms. Overall, the SWC/SPR measures covered 354,294 hectares of cropland, 165,743 hectares of forest and ranggeland and 8,132 hectares of valley bottoms. Some…

Investment in agriculture and food systems is essential for achieving food security and adequate nutrition. Lack of investment in agriculture over decades has led to low productivity and inefficient food systems in many developing countries. In recent years, apparently “vacant” or “underutilized” land in developing countries has attracted national and international investors resulting in the…

This book provides a comprehensive review of Grain for Green, China’s nationwide program which pays farmers to revert sloping or marginal farm land to trees or grass. The program aims to improve the ecological conditions of much of China, and the socioeconomic circumstances of hundreds of millions of people. GfG is the largest reforestation, ecological restoration, and rural development…