eprintid: 7
rev_number: 25
eprint_status: archive
userid: 1
dir: disk0/00/00/00/07
datestamp: 2011-05-16 07:22:52
lastmod: 2013-09-16 09:13:08
status_changed: 2011-05-16 08:19:02
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
item_issues_count: 0
creators_name: Winslow, M D
creators_name: Vogt, J V
creators_name: Thomas, R J
creators_name: Sommer, S
creators_name: Martius, C
creators_name: Akhtar-Schuster, M
icrisatcreators_name: Winslow, M D
icrisatcreators_name: Sommer, S
affiliation: ICRISAT(Patancheru)
affiliation: Institute for Environment and Sustainability(Italy)
affiliation: United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health(Canada)
affiliation: International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas(Tashkent)
affiliation: SecretariatDesertNet International(Germany)
country: India
country: Italy
country: Canada
country: Uzbekistan 
country: Germany
title: Science for Improving the Monitoring and Assessment of
Dryland Degradation

ispublished: pub
subjects: s2.2
full_text_status: public
keywords: UNCCD;desertification;dryland degradation;drought;monitoring and assessment;sustainable land management;knowledge management;Dryland Development Paradigm;integrated assessment modelling
agrotags: <b>Agrotags</b>     - arid zones | land resources | monitoring | group communication | environmental degradation | agreements | audiovisual aids | mechanization | sustainability | land management <br><b>Fishtags</b>    - drying <br><b>Geopoliticaltags</b> - buenos aires | centre | india
note: The UNCCD Scientific Conference process that created the
impetus for the studies presented in this special issue was
organised by the Dryland Science for Development (DSD)
Consortium under the auspices of the UNCCD’s Committee
on Science and Technology. The five DSD member institutions
were (in alphabetical order): DesertNet International
(DNI), the International Center for Agricultural Research in
Dry Areas (ICARDA), the International Crops Research
Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the European
Commission’s Joint Research Centre—Institute for
Environment and Sustainability (JRC-IES) and United
Nations University’s Institute for Water, Environment and
Health (UNU-INWEH). In addition to support from the DSD
member institutions, DSD organisational meetings, consultations
and participation in the Scientific Conference were
made possible through additional support from (in alphabetical
order by organisation) the European Commission
(EC); the Convention Project to Combat Desertification
(CCD Project) of Deutsche Gesellschaft fu¨r Technische
Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH acting on behalf of the
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ); the Global Environment Facility
(GEF) through the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP); and the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD). The DSD engaged approximately 200
scientists worldwide in working group deliberations, representing
a wide range of expertise and regional and disciplinary
diversity. Their contributions formed the basis of the
ideas presented here.

abstract: The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) commissioned its First Scientific Conference in 2009 to deliberate on
ways to improve the global monitoring and assessment of dryland degradation to support decision-making in land and water management. The
papers included in this issue of Land Degradation & Development elaborate the reasoning behind the 11 recommendations that emerged from
the Conference and were formally submitted to the UNCCD. These papers argue for a more holistic, harmonised and integrated approach to
dryland monitoring and assessment, and describe scientific and institutional approaches for achieving this goal. A central challenge is to
integrate human/social with environmental observations in accordance with the Convention’s view that the interactions and tradeoffs between
human development needs and land condition must be considered. A global monitoring and assessment regime should be established to gather
and analyse relevant data on a routine basis, allowing locally-relevant indicators to be aggregated into meaningful classes appropriate to
different decision-making levels. The underlying forces that cause changes in land condition should also be monitored and assessed so that
remedial actions can target the true causes of dryland degradation, including social, economic, policy, institutional and knowledge drivers that
have often been overlooked in the past. Monitoring and assessment should hybridise differing types of knowledge generated by different
stakeholders in order to strengthen collective capacities to combat dryland degradation. An independent scientific advisory mechanism should
be created to advise the UNCCD about the results emerging from the monitoring and assessment regime in order to improve decision-making.
date: 2011
date_type: published
publication: Land Degradation & Development
volume: 22
publisher: John Wiley & Sons
pagerange: 145-149
refereed: TRUE
issn: 1085-3278
official_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ldr.1044
related_url_url: http://scholar.google.co.in/scholar?hl=en&q=allintitle%3A+%22Science+for+Improving+the+Monitoring+and+Assessment+of+Dryland+Degradation%22&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_ylo=&as_vis=0
related_url_type: pub
citation:   Winslow, M D and Vogt, J V and Thomas, R J and Sommer, S and Martius, C and Akhtar-Schuster, M  (2011) Science for Improving the Monitoring and Assessment of Dryland Degradation.  Land Degradation & Development, 22.  pp. 145-149.  ISSN 1085-3278     
document_url: http://oar.icrisat.org/7/1/mark1.pdf