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An Overview of Land Degradation and Sustainable Land Management in the Near East and North Africa

Year of publication 2022

Place of publication Toronto, Canada ;

Pages 14 p.

Author Ziadat, F. M.; Zdruli, P.; Christiansen, S.; Caon, L.; Monem, M. A.; Fetsi, T.

Publisher Canadian Center of Science and Education ;

Product type Article

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) Land degradation and desertification (LDD) and climate change are having increased effects in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) impacting the livelihoods of about 410 million people. Agriculture is a vital sector, contributing on average 14% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (excluding oil-producing countries) and providing jobs and incomes for 38% of the region’s economically active population. Nevertheless, most NENA countries import at least 50% of the calories they consume. Furthermore, it is estimated that the total area that is desertified or is vulnerable to desertification cover 9.84 million km2 or about 86.7% of the total NENA region. Soil erosion by water, wind, and sand and dust storms (SDS) cause losses of about USD 13 billion of GDP each year. To confront these hardships, the region must endorse proper land use planning, prioritization of target areas for restoration, and adoption of sustainable land and water management (SLWM) to reverse the situation. This paper analyses the inter-linkages between LDD, resource-based management, and food security under different scenarios and offers mitigation and remediation options. These include knowledge management and sharing; establishment of a regional platform to facilitate dialogue; public and private investment opportunities; provision of tools to scale-out sustainable land and water management options; and creation of a conducive enabling environment supported by policies and strategies. The paper provides policy and decision-makers with priority actions and options to enhance productivity, and combat land degradation to improve food security in the region.

This is an open access article published externally in Sustainable Agriculture Research (an international, double-blind peer-reviewed, open-access journal), Vol. 11, No. 1 (2022) , published: 18 December 2021

Cite this content as:

Ziadat, F. M., Zdruli, P., Christiansen, S., Caon, L., Monem, M. A., Fetsi, T. 2022. An Overview of Land Degradation and Sustainable Land Management in the Near East and North Africa. Sustainable Agriculture Research, 11(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.5539/sar.v11n1p11

Language English

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