Ephraim Nkonya · Alisher Mirzabaev Joachim von Braun Editors Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development Ephraim Nkonya • Alisher Mirzabaev Joachim von Braun Editors Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development Editors Ephraim Nkonya International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) Washington, DC USA Alisher Mirzabaev Center for Development Research (ZEF) University of Bonn Bonn Germany Joachim von Braun Center for Development Research (ZEF) University of Bonn Bonn Germany ISBN 978-3-319-19167-6 ISBN 978-3-319-19168-3 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-19168-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015950461 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016. The book is published with open access at SpringerLink.com. Open Access This book is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited. All commercial rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, speci fi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on micro fi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a speci fi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Foreword Fertile soils are an essential building block for human existence on Earth. The degradation of soils and land, in this regard, poses signi fi cant challenges for the well-being and food security of all the people around the world. Moreover, soils provide not only food, fi ber, and many types of biomass we use, but also a wide range of other essential ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, water puri fi cation, cultural, and esthetic values. Unfortunately, in the Anthropocene, our age of mankind, the degradation of natural ecosystems, including land and soils, has rapidly increased, posing daunting challenges to achieving sustainable development and poverty reduction. Degradation of ecosystems is posing environmental chal- lenges and is leading to the loss of land productivity — which in turn leads to conversion of high-value biomes — such as forests — to low-value biomes — espe- cially in low-income countries, where majority of the rural poor heavily depend on natural resources. The resulting scarcities are often exacerbated by prohibiting and dispossessing people from access to land and fertile soils. Hence, sustainable soil management and responsible land governance have a great potential for being one of the corner stones of achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs). Speci fi cally, sustainable land management contributes to achieving several of the SDGs, such as land degradation neutrality and an ambitious climate and biodi- versity agenda, as highlighted in the series of Global Soil Week events in Berlin in recent years. This book on Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement provides with valuable knowledge and information both at the global, regional, and national levels on the costs of land degradation and bene fi ts of taking action against land degra- dation. A key advantage of this book is that it goes beyond the conventional market values of only crop and livestock products lost due to land degradation, but seeks to capture all major terrestrial losses of ecosystem services. Twelve carefully selected national case studies provide rich information about various local contexts of cost of land degradation as evaluated by local communities, drivers of land degradation, and amenable strategies for sustainable land management. v The research presented in the book shows that investments to address land degradation have signi fi cant economic payoffs. Next to investments, we have to address the question of adoption of sustainable land management practices and policies. To implement land restoration, we need to understand obstacles within the social, economic, and the political context. The results of this study show that particular attention needs to be paid to tangible local incentives for taking action against land degradation. This requires secure land rights, enhancing extension services, and empowering local communities to manage their natural resources. The identi fi cation of implementation pathways through multi-stakeholder processes assumes a particular importance in this regard. This book can serve as a highly valuable resource and reference for policymakers, civil society, researchers, and practitioners. Klaus T ö pfer Executive Director, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) and former Under Secretary General of the United Nations, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme vi Foreword Acknowledgments The relationships between human well-being and land and soils are still not getting appropriate policy attention. Over the past few years, however, the research and action community concerned with the consequences of degradation of land and soils, and the need for sustainable land management, has grown rapidly. The global reach of this volume is testimony to that. We hope that interdisciplinary research with an emphasis on economics and social science in combination with biophysical research on land and soils may help trigger public and private action. A central perspective provided with this volume is that the costs of inaction on land degra- dation are much higher than that of the costs of taking action against degradation. The joint research teams at Center for Development Research (ZEF) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) are grateful for the many partnerships we were able to build around this topic, which is so fundamental for sustainable development. The research presented in this book is the outcome of collaborative efforts by numerous individuals and institutions. Up front we thank them all, although inadvertently not all may have been mentioned here. This book would not have been possible without the time and efforts of thou- sands of households who participated in the surveys and community focus group discussions contributing to the individual case studies and sharing their knowledge and experiences for addressing land degradation. Each of the studies bene fi ted from the advice of external reviewers, individual researchers, and development and policy practitioners. We would like to express our heartfelt appreciation to Professor Rattan Lal for serving as the leading external reviewer of this volume and for sharing his tremendous experience and advice with us throughout the background research for this volume. We are also highly indebted to Zhanguo Bai, Edward Barbier, Rashid Hassan, Jane Kabubo-Mariara, Tobias Landmann, Erik Nelson, Martin Petrick, and Paul Reich for their highly insightful comments and suggestions during the review of individual studies. The interim results of the chapters were presented in several workshops and conferences, including the Global Soil Weeks in Berlin, where they received valuable comments vii and suggestions. We thank the experts who shared with us their wisdom during these presentations of early fi ndings from the studies. We are very grateful to the collaborating institutions and their staff in the case study countries who provided both technical and logistic support. Particularly, we thank the Argentinian National University Arturo Jauretche, Bhutanese National Soil Services Center, Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ethiopian Economic Association, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Kenyan Agricultural and Livestock Research Institute, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique du Niger, Eurasian Center for Food Security, Tanzanian of fi ce of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Institut National de P é dologie du S é n é gal, Central Asian and Caucasian of fi ce of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas. We are also highly thankful to many international partner institutions for promoting and facil- itating this research, speci fi cally, Economics of Land Degradation Initiative Secretariat, European Commission, GIZ, and UNCCD. Each of the studies has also bene fi ted from research guidance and strong encouragements from policymakers in a number of ministries and departments in the study countries, and many colleagues and friends. We are particularly grateful for these inputs to Tahirou Abdoulaye, Assefa Admassie, Jamal Annagylyjova, Mahendra Dev, Georg Deichert, Marlene Diekmann, Nicolas Gerber, Zhe Guo, Jikun Huang, Issoufou Issaka, Eliud Kereger, Pavel Krasilnikov, Adam Mamadou, Mame Nd é n é Lo, Alfred Tine, Talla Gueye, Mamadou Maiga, Papa Nekhou Diagne, Ephraim Mukisira, Nandan Nawn, Vijaylaxmi Pandey, Mark Schauer, Kamil Shideed, Abasse Tougiani, Timothy Thomas, Josef Turok, and Rebecca Wahome. We would also like to thank all the colleagues who provided us with logistic support and also worked with us on the ground, especially Muzaffar Aliev, Moussa Boureima, Silvana Builes, Zakir Khalikulov, Marlen Krause, Karin Hagedorn-Mensah, Aziz Nurbekov, Subashin Mesipam, Milo Mitchell, Arpita Nehra, Evelyne Odiambo, Clemens Olbrich, Andrea Pedolsky, Rebecka Ridder, and Alma van der Veen. We would like to gratefully thank German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), for providing the fi nancial support for this research. BMZ ’ s wise decision to make economics of land degradation a devel- opment policy theme augmented the development agenda, and the continued sup- port for research and action on Economics of Land Degradation has been crucial in making this volume possible. The chapter on Bhutan also received funding from the World Bank-Netherlands Partnership Program. Similarly, the chapter on Russia received funding from the Russian Research Fund. The mission of this volume is to trigger more appropriate care for earth. We hope the research and methodologies described in this volume will stimulate further interdisciplinary research on land degradation and land improvement, especially locally. Ephraim Nkonya Alisher Mirzabaev Joachim von Braun viii Acknowledgments Contents 1 Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement: An Introduction and Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ephraim Nkonya, Alisher Mirzabaev and Joachim von Braun 2 Concepts and Methods of Global Assessment of the Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Ephraim Nkonya, Joachim von Braun, Alisher Mirzabaev, Quang Bao Le, Ho-Young Kwon and Oliver Kirui 3 Institutional Framework of (In)Action Against Land Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Philipp Baumgartner and Jan Cherlet 4 Biomass Productivity-Based Mapping of Global Land Degradation Hotspots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Quang Bao Le, Ephraim Nkonya and Alisher Mirzabaev 5 Evaluating Global Land Degradation Using Ground-Based Measurements and Remote Sensing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 Weston Anderson and Timothy Johnson 6 Global Cost of Land Degradation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 Ephraim Nkonya, Weston Anderson, Edward Kato, Jawoo Koo, Alisher Mirzabaev, Joachim von Braun and Stefan Meyer 7 Global Drivers of Land Degradation and Improvement . . . . . . . . 167 Alisher Mirzabaev, Ephraim Nkonya, Jann Goedecke, Timothy Johnson and Weston Anderson 8 Global Estimates of the Impacts of Grassland Degradation on Livestock Productivity from 2001 to 2011 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Ho-Young Kwon, Ephraim Nkonya, Timothy Johnson, Valerie Graw, Edward Kato and Evelyn Kihiu ix 9 Economics of Land Degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa . . . . . . . . 215 Ephraim Nkonya, Timothy Johnson, Ho Young Kwon and Edward Kato 10 Economics of Land Degradation in Central Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 Alisher Mirzabaev, Jann Goedecke, Olena Dubovyk, Utkur Djanibekov, Quang Bao Le and Aden Aw-Hassan 11 Economics of Land Degradation in Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 Mariana E. Bouza, Adriana Aranda-Rickert, Mar í a Magdalena Brizuela, Marcelo G. Wilson, Maria Carolina Sasal, Silvana M.J. Sione, Stella Beghetto, Emmanuel A. Gabioud, Jos é D. Oszust, Donaldo E. Bran, Virginia Velazco, Juan J. Gait á n, Juan C. Silenzi, Nora E. Echeverr í a, Mart í n P. De Lucia, Daniel E. Iurman, Juan I. Vanzolini, Federico J. Castoldi, Joaquin Etorena Hormaeche, Timothy Johnson, Stefan Meyer and Ephraim Nkonya 12 Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Bhutan . . . 327 Ephraim Nkonya, Raghavan Srinivasan, Weston Anderson and Edward Kato 13 Economics of Land Degradation in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385 Xiangzheng Deng and Zhihui Li 14 Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 Samuel Gebreselassie, Oliver K. Kirui and Alisher Mirzabaev 15 Economics of Land Degradation in India . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431 Gurumurthy Mythili and Jann Goedecke 16 Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Kenya . . . . 471 Wellington Mulinge, Patrick Gicheru, Festus Murithi, Peter Maingi, Evelyne Kihiu, Oliver K. Kirui and Alisher Mirzabaev 17 Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Niger . . . . . 499 Bokar Moussa, Ephraim Nkonya, Stefan Meyer, Edward Kato, Timothy Johnson and James Hawkins 18 The Economics of Land Degradation in Russia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 541 Alexey Sorokin, Aleksey Bryzzhev, Anton Strokov, Alisher Mirzabaev, Timothy Johnson and Sergey V. Kiselev x Contents 19 Cost, Drivers and Action Against Land Degradation in Senegal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577 Samba Sow, Ephraim Nkonya, Stefan Meyer and Edward Kato 20 Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Tanzania and Malawi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 609 Oliver K. Kirui 21 Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Uzbekistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651 Aden Aw-Hassan, Vitalii Korol, Nariman Nishanov, Utkur Djanibekov, Olena Dubovyk and Alisher Mirzabaev Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683 Contents xi Abbreviations AEZ Agro-ecological zone AF Atmospheric fertilization AFSIS Africa Soil Information Service AHL Annual harvest limit AIC Agro-industrial complex AISP Agricultural Input Subsidy Program APDM Area percentage data model ARPU Agro-climatic regional planning unit ASAL Arid and semiarid lands ASDSP Agricultural Sector Development Support Program AVHRR Advanced very high-resolution radiometer AVNIR Advanced land observation satellite AWM Agriculture water management BAU Business as usual BBS Broad-based surveys BMZ German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BRDF Bidirectional re fl ectance distribution function CA Conservation agriculture CAC Central American and Caribbean CACP Commission for agricultural costs and prices CBD Convention on biological diversity CBFM Community-based forest management CBPA Community-based protected areas CCS Cost of cultivation survey CF Community-managed forests CGIAR-CSI Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research — Consortium for Spatial Information CIESIN CIAT Center for International Earth Science Information Network — Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical xiii CIESIN Center for International Earth Science Information Network, Columbia CIP Crop Intensi fi cation Program CRILAR Centro Regional de Investigaciones La Rioja CRILAR-CONICET The National Observatory of Deserti fi cation and Land Degradation, coordinated by the Regional Centre for Scienti fi c and Technological Research of La Rioja CRU Climate Research Unit, University of East Anglia CSA Central Statistical Agency, Ethiopia CT Conventional tillage dbh Diameter at breast height or drashing size trees DEM Digital elevation model DFID Department for International Development, UK DM Dry matter DMI Dry matter intake DOS Strategic orientation document DSSAT-CENTURY Decision support system for agro-technology transfer crop simulation model ECOWAS Economic community of West African States EKC Environment Kuznets curve ELD Economics of land degradation EPI Environmental performance index ERSS Ethiopia Rural Socioeconomic Survey ES Ecosystem services ETIP Extended targeted input program ETM Enhanced thematic mapper EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FAOSTAT Food and Agriculture Organization Corporate Statistical Database FD Federal district FE Fixed effect FGD Focus group discussion FMNR Farmer management natural regeneration FMSP Federal Market Stabilization Program FRA Forest resource assessment FYM Farm yard manure GADM Database of global administrative areas GDP Gross domestic product GE Government effectives GEF Global environment facility GEI Government effectiveness index GHG Greenhouse gas GHI Global Hunger index GIMMS Global inventory modeling and mapping studies xiv Abbreviations GIS Geographic information system GLADA Global assessment of land degradation and improvement GLADIS Global land degradation information system GLASS Global land surface characteristic parameters product and applications study GLCF Global land cover facility GLS Global land survey GLW Gridded livestock of the world GM Genetically modi fi ed GMO Genetically modi fi ed organism GNI Gross national income GOANA Grande Offensive Agricole pour la Nourriture et l ’ Abondance GoK Government of Kenya GRP Gross regional product GRUMP Global rural – urban mapping project GTP Growth and transformation plan, Ethiopia HANPP Human appropriation of net primary production HDI Human development index HEP Hydroelectric power HRU Hydrologic response unit HYV High yielding varieties ICAR Indian Council of Agricultural Research ICARDA International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas IFPRI International Center for Food Policy Research IGBP International Geosphere – Biosphere Program IHS Integrated Household Survey, Ethiopia IIASA International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis IISD International Institute for Sustainable Development IMT Irrigation management transfer IMR Infant mortality rate INTA National Institute of Agricultural Technology IRR Internal rate of return IRWR Internal renewable water resources ISFM Integrated soil fertility management ISRIC International Soil Reference and Information Center ITU International Telecommunication Union IV-LPM Instrumental variable linear probability model KALRO Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization KARI Kenya Agricultural Research Institute KIHBS Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey KLA Kenya Land Alliance LAC Latin America and Caribbean LADA Land degradation assessment in drylands Abbreviations xv LCA Life cycle analysis LD Land degradation LPI Logistics performance index LSMS-ISA Living standards measurement study — integrated surveys on agriculture LUCC Land use and cover change LUP Land use planning LUPP Land use planning processes MEA Millennium Ecosystem Assessment MoAF Ministry of Agriculture and Forests MODIS Moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer MoFED Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Ethiopia MRR Marginal rate of return MSS Multispectral scanner NAAIP National Accelerated Agricultural Input Program NAIVS National agricultural input voucher system NALEP National Agricultural and Livestock Extension Program NAM North America NAP National action plan NAPA National adaptation program of action NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration NBS National Bureau of Statistics, Tanzania NBSS National Bureau of Soil Survey NDVI Normalized difference vegetation index NENA Near East and North Africa NFP National Forest Policy NGO Non-Governmental Organization NLP National land policy NOAA US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association NPP Net primary productivity NPV Net present value NRM Natural resource management NRSA National Remote Sensing Agency NSE Nash-Sutcliffe model ef fi ciency NSO National Statistics Of fi ce, Ethiopia NSSC National Soil Services Center NT No tillage NTFP Non-timber forest products ODA Of fi cial development assistance PAE Public agricultural expenditure PBIAS Percent bias PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency PES Payment for Ecosystem Services PEV Post-election violence PG Planted pasture xvi Abbreviations PI Soil productivity index PIK Projet Int é gr é Keita PIECAS-DP Plan for Integral Strategic Planning for Conservation and Sustainable Development of the Paran á Delta Region PN Natural regeneration pasture POP Population PRM Poisson regression model PROSAP Program of Agricultural Services in Provinces PUG Proportion of unpalatable grasses R&D Research and Development RDS Rural development strategy RF Rainfall RGoB Royal Government of Bhutan RNR Renewable natural resource ROSSTAT Federal state statistics service RS Remote sensing RUB Russian rubles SayDS Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development SDG Sustainable development goal SDI Steppe degradation index SE South – East SFA State forestry administration SFM Sustainable forest management SFSR Soviet Federative Socialist Republic SIAD National strategy for sustainable input supply to farmers SLCP Sloping Land Conversion Program SLM Sustainable land management SLWM Sustainable land and water management SOM Soil organic matter SRTM Shuttle radar topography mission SSA Sub-Saharan Africa SWAT Soil and water assessment tool SWC Soil and water conservation TAP Total agricultural product TEEB The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity TERI The Energy and Resources Institute TEV Total economic value TIP Targeted Input Program TLU Tropical livestock unit TM Thematic mapper TME Tecnolog í a de Manejo Extensivo TNC Transnational corporations TNPS Tanzania National Panel Survey UMEOA West African Monetary and Economic Union UNCCD United Nations Convention to Combat Deserti fi cation Abbreviations xvii UNDP United Nations Development Program UNEP United Nations Environmental Program UNFCCC United Nations framework convention on climate change UON University of Nairobi URT United Republic of Tanzania US United States USD United States Dollar USDA-NRCS US Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service UTM Universal Transverse Mercator VFC Vegetation fractional coverage VP Vertical plowing (Vertical Chisel) WB The World Bank WEF Water – energy – food WER Wind erosion risk WFP Wood forest product WHO World Health Organization WOCAT World overview of conservation approaches and technologies WRI World Resources Institute YCEO Yale Center for Earth Observation ZEF Center for Development Research, University of Bonn xviii Abbreviations Chapter 1 Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement: An Introduction and Overview Ephraim Nkonya, Alisher Mirzabaev and Joachim von Braun Abstract Land degradation is occurring in almost all terrestrial biomes and agro-ecologies, in both low and high income countries. However its impact is especially severe on the livelihoods of the poor who heavily depend on natural resources. Despite the severe impact of land degradation on the poor and the crucial role that land plays in human welfare and development, investments in sustainable land management (SLM) are low, especially in developing countries. This chapter summarizes the results from global and regional levels as well as 12 case study countries. The chapter also draws conclusions and implications for taking action against land degradation. Land degradation stretches to about 30 % of the total global land area and about three billion people reside in degraded lands. The annual global cost of land degradation due to land use/cover change (LUCC) and using land degrading management practices on static cropland and grazing land is about 300 billion USD. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounts for the largest share (22 %) of the total global cost of land degradation. Only about 46 % of the cost of land degradation due to LUCC — which accounts for 78 % of the US$300 billion loss — is borne by land users and the remaining share (54 %) is borne by consumers of ecosystem services off the farm. This further illustrates that land degradation is a global problem even though its impact is much greater on poor land users. The cost of taking action against land degradation is much lower than the cost of inaction and the returns to taking action are high. On average, one US dollar investment into restoration of degraded land returns fi ve US dollars. This provides a strong incentive for taking action against land degradation. This study shows that simul- E. Nkonya ( & ) International Food Policy Research Institute, 2033 K Street NW, Washington, DC 20006, USA e-mail: e.nkonya@cgiar.org A. Mirzabaev J. von Braun Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Walter Flex Str 3, Bonn 53113, Germany e-mail: almir@uni-bonn.de J. von Braun e-mail: jvonbraun@uni-bonn.de © The Author(s) 2016 E. Nkonya et al. (eds.), Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development , DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-19168-3_1 1 taneously enhancing local and national level governments, land tenure security, and improving market access is the most effective strategy for addressing land degra- dation. Given that LUCC accounts for the largest share of cost of land degradation, t here is a need for developing land use planning that will ensure that forests and other high value biomes are effectively protected. Empirical evidence has shown that involvement of local communities in managing forests and other high value biomes and creating mechanisms for them to directly bene fi t from their conserva- tion efforts lead to more effective protection than is the case with centralized pro- tection. The assessment in this volume is being conducted at a time when there is an elevated interest in private land investments and when global efforts to achieve sustainable development objectives have intensi fi ed. This means, results of this volume will contribute signi fi cantly to the ongoing policy debate and efforts to design strategies for achieving sustainable development goals and other efforts to address land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. Keywords Economics of land degradation and improvement Sustainable land management Cost of action Ecosystem services Land Degradation: A Global Problem Sustainable land use and protection of soils play a key role in food, climate, and human security (Lal 2005, 2014; von Braun 2013; Lal et al. 2014; Amundson et al. 2015). In spite of this, land degradation has become a global problem occurring in most terrestrial biomes and agro-ecologies, in both low income and highly indus- trialized countries (Le et al. 2014; Chap. 4). On the other hand, fertile soils are a non-renewable resource by human time spans as their formation and renewal could take hundreds, if not thousands, of years (Lal 1994). For this reason, the human management of soil resources will have wide-ranging consequences on human security for generations to come. Already, sharp acceleration in environmental pollution and natural resource degradation over the past century has led to a higher recognition of the importance of sustainable development, including the fi rst global landmark event — the Human Environment Conference in Stockholm in 1972 (World Bank 2010). Continuing on this path towards sustainability, the United Nations have set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to guide the future global development agenda. One of the 17 targets aims to “ protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat deserti fi cation, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss ” (UNDP 2015). Thus, SDGs envision providing a global commitment to address land degradation and achieve a land and soil degradation-neutral world (Lal et al. 2012). 2 E. Nkonya et al. Crucially in this context, the livelihoods of the majority of the rural poor depend on land (Nachtergaele et al. 2010). Additionally, food, fi ber and other terrestrial ecosystem goods for the global population are drawn from land, the degradation of which has both direct and indirect impacts on overall human welfare. Addressing land degradation can, therefore, provide with cross-cutting contributions to achieving many of the other SDGs as well. Despite the crucial role that land plays in human welfare and development, investments in sustainable land management (SLM) are low, especially in developing countries. For example, public investments per worker in the agricultural sector in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) declined to one third from 152 USD in 1980 – 1989 to only 42 USD in 2005 – 2007 (FAO 2012). In particular, investments and incentives for sustainable land use and for prevention of land and soil degradation are presently inadequate and would need to be substan- tially increased in order to eradicate poverty and enhance food security in the world. Why Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement Given the above, the research presented in this book has been conducted with the objective to strengthen the foundations of ecological and economic knowledge that may stimulate putting sustainability of land and soils appropriately on the political agendas. These studies at global, regional and national levels evaluate the costs of land degradation and bene fi ts of sustainable land management. They also identify the drivers of land degradation in order to devise polices to address them. Using case studies helps analyze in more detail the aspects of land degradation that cannot be captured using global or regional-level data, especially due to the diverse nature and process of land degradation under different biophysical and socio-economic characteristics at the local levels. A total of 12 country-level case studies were conducted for more detailed analyses of the costs and drivers of land degradation. The case study countries were carefully selected to be globally representative for major biophysical and socio-economic characteristics. They account for 43 % of the global population and 28 % of the land area. The second objective of the volume is to provide empirical evidence and infor- mation to help the global community to take action against land degradation and its impacts on human wellbeing. The third objective of the study is to develop analytical approaches and generate data that could be used to conduct regular assessment of land degradation and improvement at global, regional, country and local levels. The analytical methods are presented in a manner to allow their applications across disciplines and by researchers and practitioners with varying needs and capacities. The study covers two major categories of land degradation: namely, long-term loss of value of land ecosystem services due to land use and cover change (LUCC) and the use of land degrading management practices on cropland and grazing lands that do not experience LUCC. The six major biomes covered include forest, shrublands, grasslands, cropland, barren land, and woodlands and they accounted for about 86 % of global land area in 2001 (NASA 2014). 1 Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement: An Introduction and Overview 3