Land Degradation
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* Cherlet, M., Hutchinson, C., Reynolds, J., Hill, J., Sommer, S., von Maltitz, G. (Eds.). (2018). World Atlas of Desertification. Publication Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. http://wad.jrc.ec.europa.eu * Ivits, W., & Cherlet, M.(2013). Land-Productivity Dynamics: Towards integrated assessment of land degradation at global scales. Technical report of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission EUR 26052; doi:10.2788/59315 http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC80541 * Sommer, S., Cherlet, M. & Ivits, E. (2017). Mapping land productivity dynamics: detecting critical trajectories of global land transformations. In: The Global Land Outlook (first edition), United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Annex Two; pp 321 – 333. Bonn, Germany
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To identify critical land degradation zones, land productivity must be analysed within the context of land use practices and other environmental changes, such as rainfall and atmospheric fertilization. Also an increased productivity is sometimes achieved at the cost of other land resources, such as water or soil, in which case it can lead to degradation, which is observable only in later stages.