Global drivers of land degradation and improvement

Abstract

Identification of factors catalyzing sustainable land management (SLM) could provide insights for national policies and international efforts to address land degradation. Building on previous studies, and using novel datasets, this chapter identifies major drivers of land degradation at global and regional levels. The findings of this study confirm the earlier insights in the literature on the context-specific nature of the drivers of land degradation. This context-dependence explains the previous contradictions in the literature on the effects of various socio-economic and institutional factors on land degradation. It also calls for the localized diagnostic of the drivers of land degradation. The drivers of land degradation are predominantly local, so actions to address them should be based on the understanding of the local interplay of various factors and how they affect land degradation.