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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgement | |
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| Introduction: Scope and approach | |
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| The Nature of Desertification | |
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| Desertification, its causes and why it matters | |
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| The nature of desertification | |
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| The links between global and local desertification | |
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| Discussion: desertification as a world-wide and historical phenomenon | |
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| Discussion: life and its feedback with the environment | |
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| Discussion: the adaptation of people and cultures to desertification | |
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| Discussion: Data and evidence for land degradation | |
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| Conclusion: why land degradation and desertification occur | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| Responses to desertification | |
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| Finding answers | |
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| Conclusion: The causes of land degradation today | |
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| Conclusion: strategies to mitigate desertification | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| Desertification indicators: from concept to practice | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Approaches to desertification indicators | |
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| Global and regional indicators of land degradation and desertification | |
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| Applying selected concepts in practice | |
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| Desertification, resilience and stability | |
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| The soil and water conservation and protection functions | |
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| Spatial variability and discontinuity | |
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| Hydrological indicators of desertification | |
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| Water in the soil and landscape | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| Local Desertification Impact and Response | |
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| Key processes regulating soil and landscape functions | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Fine scale processes | |
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| The provision of the hydrological function, runoff and sediment transport | |
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| The protection function of the land and erosion | |
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| The long-term impact: the vigil network sites in the USA | |
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| Hydrological response: what happens to the land when it rains | |
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| Water | |
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| Nature, natural capital and land degradation | |
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| Soil stability | |
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| Soil response and soil behaviour | |
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| Catchment response, hydrology and the soil | |
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| Discussion: vegetation patterns as responses to land degradation processes | |
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| Controlled desertification experiments | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| Human impact on degradation processes | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Soil erosion processes | |
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| Response of soil structure to cultivation and farming | |
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| Gully erosion | |
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| Grazing and erosion | |
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| The impact of fire on land degradation processes | |
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| Case 1: Blue Ridge Foothills | |
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| Case 2: Human impact in the Atlantic States | |
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| Case 3: Impact of forest logging in California Casper Creek | |
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| Case 4: Karuah Forest, New South Wales, Australia | |
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| Case 5: Afforestation in Spain | |
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| Case 6: Soil erosion impacts in Europe | |
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| Case 7: Human impact in the Central Cordillera of Columbia | |
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| Case 8: Bolivia Tarije | |
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| The sediment load and soil erosion | |
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| Monitoring methods to verify impact and management on erosion | |
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| Water resource development irrigation as responses | |
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| Soil conservation principles and erosion | |
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| Conceptual approaches to soil conservation | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| Responses to land degradation from perception to action | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Environmentally sensitive areas | |
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| The European policy, response, and governance | |
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| Applying the adaptive systems approach explicitly | |
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| Responding with laws to protect the land and soil | |
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| European law and the requirements of the convention | |
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| The European soil strategy | |
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| Romania: A model national action plan | |
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| Italy and the convention | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| Global Desertification Impact and Response | |
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| Global desertification today | |
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| Desertification today | |
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| Global balances and fluxes | |
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| Case study: desertification and the crash in property prices | |
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| Brazil | |
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| Namibia | |
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| Dust and sandstorms in China | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| Desertification, ecosystem services and capital | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Interactions between desertification and ecosystem services | |
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| The impact of desertification on ecosystem services | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| The way forward: global soil conservation and protection | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Iceland | |
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| The call for action | |
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| Europe | |
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| Support to the UNCCD | |
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| The importance of international co-operation | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| Soil basics | |
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| References and further reading | |
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| Index | |