Land policies are of fundamental importance to sustainable growth, good governance, and the well-being of, and the economic opportunities open to, both rural and urban dwellers - particularly the poor.

Loss of biodiversity is the single most important threat to the conservation and sustainable use of drylands in northern Ethiopia due to many centuries of cultivation and heavy livestock grazing pressure.

The distribution and quality of soil and land resources in heterogeneous grazing lands of central Australia were changed by grazing. Sites located at increasing distances from livestock watering points showed greater degrees of landscape organization and soil productive potential.

Extensive livestock farming systems in the Less Favored Areas (LFA) of the European Union (EU) are under social stress and requirement to adapt their production practices to new economic and social realities.

Apart from a decrease in total perennial plant cover, degradation of North-African arid lands is not easy to qualify. Yet, simple and comprehensive yardsticks are necessary to assess degradation.