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  • © 2016

Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development

  • Develops a conceptual framework for a more comprehensive assessment of the costs of land degradation by including the value of land ecosystem services

  • Provides practical analytical methods for determining the costs and drivers of land degradation at various scales

  • Demonstrates the application of these concepts and methods at the national level through 12 case studies

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (21 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xviii
  2. Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement: An Introduction and Overview

    • Ephraim Nkonya, Alisher Mirzabaev, Joachim von Braun
    Pages 1-14Open Access
  3. Concepts and Methods of Global Assessment of the Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement

    • Ephraim Nkonya, Joachim von Braun, Alisher Mirzabaev, Quang Bao Le, Ho-Young Kwon, Oliver Kirui
    Pages 15-32Open Access
  4. Institutional Framework of (In)Action Against Land Degradation

    • Philipp Baumgartner, Jan Cherlet
    Pages 33-54Open Access
  5. Biomass Productivity-Based Mapping of Global Land Degradation Hotspots

    • Quang Bao Le, Ephraim Nkonya, Alisher Mirzabaev
    Pages 55-84Open Access
  6. Evaluating Global Land Degradation Using Ground-Based Measurements and Remote Sensing

    • Weston Anderson, Timothy Johnson
    Pages 85-116Open Access
  7. Global Cost of Land Degradation

    • Ephraim Nkonya, Weston Anderson, Edward Kato, Jawoo Koo, Alisher Mirzabaev, Joachim von Braun et al.
    Pages 117-165Open Access
  8. Global Drivers of Land Degradation and Improvement

    • Alisher Mirzabaev, Ephraim Nkonya, Jann Goedecke, Timothy Johnson, Weston Anderson
    Pages 167-195Open Access
  9. Global Estimates of the Impacts of Grassland Degradation on Livestock Productivity from 2001 to 2011

    • Ho-Young Kwon, Ephraim Nkonya, Timothy Johnson, Valerie Graw, Edward Kato, Evelyn Kihiu
    Pages 197-214Open Access
  10. Economics of Land Degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa

    • Ephraim Nkonya, Timothy Johnson, Ho Young Kwon, Edward Kato
    Pages 215-259Open Access
  11. Economics of Land Degradation in Central Asia

    • Alisher Mirzabaev, Jann Goedecke, Olena Dubovyk, Utkur Djanibekov, Quang Bao Le, Aden Aw-Hassan
    Pages 261-290Open Access
  12. Economics of Land Degradation in Argentina

    • Mariana E. Bouza, Adriana Aranda-Rickert, María Magdalena Brizuela, Marcelo G. Wilson, Maria Carolina Sasal, Silvana M. J. Sione et al.
    Pages 291-326Open Access
  13. Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Bhutan

    • Ephraim Nkonya, Raghavan Srinivasan, Weston Anderson, Edward Kato
    Pages 327-383Open Access
  14. Economics of Land Degradation in China

    • Xiangzheng Deng, Zhihui Li
    Pages 385-399Open Access
  15. Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Ethiopia

    • Samuel Gebreselassie, Oliver K. Kirui, Alisher Mirzabaev
    Pages 401-430Open Access
  16. Economics of Land Degradation in India

    • Gurumurthy Mythili, Jann Goedecke
    Pages 431-469Open Access
  17. Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Kenya

    • Wellington Mulinge, Patrick Gicheru, Festus Murithi, Peter Maingi, Evelyne Kihiu, Oliver K. Kirui et al.
    Pages 471-498Open Access
  18. Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement in Niger

    • Bokar Moussa, Ephraim Nkonya, Stefan Meyer, Edward Kato, Timothy Johnson, James Hawkins
    Pages 499-539Open Access
  19. The Economics of Land Degradation in Russia

    • Alexey Sorokin, Aleksey Bryzzhev, Anton Strokov, Alisher Mirzabaev, Timothy Johnson, Sergey V. Kiselev
    Pages 541-576Open Access
  20. Cost, Drivers and Action Against Land Degradation in Senegal

    • Samba Sow, Ephraim Nkonya, Stefan Meyer, Edward Kato
    Pages 577-608Open Access

About this book

This volume deals with land degradation, which is occurring in almost all terrestrial biomes and agro-ecologies, in both low and high income countries and is stretching to about 30% of the total global land area. About three billion people reside in these degraded lands. However, the impact of land degradation is especially severe on livelihoods of the poor who heavily depend on natural resources. The annual global cost of land degradation due to land use and cover change (LUCC) and lower cropland and rangeland productivity is estimated to be about 300 billion USD. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) accounts for the largest share (22%) of the total global cost of land degradation. Only about 38% 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 (62%) is borne by consumers of ecosystem services off the farm.
 
The results in this volume indicate that reversing land degradation trends makes both economic sense, and has multiple social and environmental benefits. On average, one US dollar investment into restoration of degraded land returns five US dollars. The findings of the country case studies call for increased investments into the rehabilitation and restoration of degraded lands, including through such institutional and policy measures as strengthening community participation for sustainable land management, enhancing government effectiveness and rule of law,
improving access to markets and rural services, and securing land tenure.   
The assessment in this volume has been conducted at a time when there is an elevated interest in private land investments and when global efforts to achieve sustainable development objectives have intensified. In this regard, the results of this volume can contribute significantly to the ongoing policy debate and efforts to design strategies for achieving sustainable development goals and related efforts to address land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

Keywords

  • Cost of Action and Inaction
  • Ecosystem Value
  • Land Degradation
  • Land Improvement
  • Total Economic Value

Editors and Affiliations

  • International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, USA

    Ephraim Nkonya

  • Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Alisher Mirzabaev, Joachim von Braun

About the editors

Prof. Joachim von Braun

Joachim von Braun is Director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn University, and Professor for economic and technological change.  von Braun’s main research interests are in sustainable economic development, poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, resource economics, trade, science and technology policy. He is chair of the Bioeconomy Council of the Federal German Government; Vice-President of the NGO “Welthungerhilfe”, Vice Chair of the Board of Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), member of two German Academies, Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican; fellow of African Academy of Science. He was Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) based in Washington, DC, U.S.A. from 2002 to 2009, and President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).

Dr. Alisher Mirzabaev

Dr. Alisher Mirzabaev is a senior researcher at the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn. His current research areas include economics of land degradation, bioenergy and the wate

r-energy-food security nexus. Before joining ZEF in 2009, he was an economist with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). He holds a PhD Degree from the University of Bonn in Germany for his thesis on the economics of climate change in Central Asia.

 

Dr. Ephraim M. Nkonya

Dr. Ephraim Nkonya is a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington D.C. Ephraim leads an IFPRI program on land resources for poverty reduction. He earned his masters and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics from Kansas State university from 1992 – 1999. He has published widely in referred journals, books and book chapters on issues related to natural resource management, poverty reduction, climate change and role of rural services on poverty reduction. He is a member of the editorial board of the African Journal of Agricultural and Resourc

e Economics. He also serves as a reviewer to a large number of referred journals.       

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development

  • Editors: Ephraim Nkonya, Alisher Mirzabaev, Joachim von Braun

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19168-3

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Economics and Finance, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and the Author(s) 2016

  • License: CC BY-NC

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-19167-6Published: 01 December 2015

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-36426-1Published: 23 August 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-19168-3Published: 11 November 2015

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVIII, 686

  • Topics: Environmental Economics

Buy it now

Buying options

Softcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access