The DOI matches its Crossref record; 28 of the 28 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Proxy global assessment of land degradation
Open accessAbstract
Abstract Land degradation is always with us but its causes, extent and severity are contested. We define land degradation as a long‐term decline in ecosystem function and productivity, which may be assessed using long‐term, remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. Deviation from the norm may serve as a proxy assessment of land degradation and improvement – if other factors that may be responsible are taken into account. These other factors include rainfall effects which may be assessed by rain‐use efficiency, calculated from NDVI and rainfall. Results from the analysis of the 23‐year Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) NDVI data indicate declining rain‐use efficiency‐adjusted NDVI on ca. 24% of the global land area with degrading areas mainly in Africa south of the equator, South‐East Asia and south China, north‐central Australia, the Pampas and swaths of the Siberian and north American taiga; 1.5 billion people live in these areas. The results are very different from previous assessments which compounded what is happening now with historical land degradation. Economic appraisal can be undertaken when land degradation is expressed in terms of net primary productivity and the resultant data allow statistical comparison with other variables to reveal possible drivers.
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In the citing paper
“Therefore, applying CM without vegetation covers may not fully prevent land degradation”
From Almond farm profitability under agroecological management in south-eastern Spain: Accounting for externalities and opportunity costs (2020) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2008
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the citing paper
“Bai et al. (2008) also found that nearly one-fifth of this degraded land is cropland, an area equivalent to more than 20 percent of all cultivated areas.”
From Mapping the world's degraded lands (2015) · cites this paper as Bai et al. (2008)
In the citing paper
“Indeed, Wessels, Van Den Bergh, and Scholes (2012) commented on the Bai et al. (2008) publication of GLADA results, and was highly critical of their methods, especially in the humid tropics where results were described as fatally flawed and misleading.”
From Mapping the world's degraded lands (2015) · cites this paper as Bai et al. (2008)
In the citing paper
“But at the same time, they also found that 16 percent of global land area is increasing in NPP, with 20 percent of total cropland area on an upward swing.”
From Mapping the world's degraded lands (2015) · cites this paper as Bai et al. (2008)
In the citing paper
“Early GLADA results reveal a declining trend in NPP across 21 percent of the global land area, 2.7 billion ha, mainly in tropical Africa, Southeast Asia, China, north central Australia, the Pampas, and swaths of the boreal forest in Siberia and North America.”
From Mapping the world's degraded lands (2015) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2008
In the citing paper
“Roughly 23 percent of forests are also improving along with more than 43 percent of rangelands.”
From Mapping the world's degraded lands (2015) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2008
In the citing paper
“The vast majority (78 percent) of degrading lands are found in humid regions, which is contrary to the popular belief that most degradation occurs in drylands.”
From Mapping the world's degraded lands (2015) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2008
In the citing paper
“Roughly 40 percent of the degraded lands were found to be in forests, with another quarter in rangelands.”
From Mapping the world's degraded lands (2015) · cites this paper as Bai et al., 2008
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Citations
Cites
Mitchell, T. D., & Jones, P. D. (2005) · International Journal of Climatology · doi:10.1002/joc.1181 · Cited by 3,820
Climate-Driven Increases in Global Terrestrial Net Primary Production from 1982 to 1999
Nemani, R., Keeling, C. D., Hashimoto, H., Jolly, W. M., Piper, S. C., Tucker, C. J., Myneni, R. B., & Running, S. W. (2003) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1082750 · Cited by 3,679
A Continuous Satellite-Derived Measure of Global Terrestrial Primary Production
Running, S. W., Nemani, R., Heinsch, F. A., Zhao, M., Reeves, M. C., & Hashimoto, H. (2004) · BioScience · doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0547:acsmog]2.0.co;2 · Cited by 2,560
Asrar, G., Fuchs, M., Kanemasu, E. T., & Hatfield, J. L. (1984) · Agronomy Journal · doi:10.2134/agronj1984.00021962007600020029x · Cited by 1,225
Estimation of global leaf area index and absorbed par using radiative transfer models
Myneni, R. B., Rajuru, R. R., Nemani, R., & Running, S. W. (1997) · IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing · doi:10.1109/36.649788 · Cited by 1,010
Analysis of Sahelian vegetation dynamics using NOAA-AVHRR NDVI data from 1981–2003
Anyamba, A., & Tucker, C. J. (2005) · Journal of Arid Environments · doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2005.03.007 · Cited by 785
A recent greening of the Sahel—trends, patterns and potential causes
Olsson, L., Eklundh, L., & Ardö, J. (2005) · Journal of Arid Environments · doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2005.03.008 · Cited by 554
Self-citationRain use efficiency: a unifying concept in arid-land ecology
Houérou, H. N. L. (1984) · Journal of Arid Environments · doi:10.1016/s0140-1963(18)31362-4 · Cited by 546
Brown, M. E., Pinzón, J. E. D., Didan, K., Morisette, J. T., & Tucker, C. J. (2006) · IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing · doi:10.1109/tgrs.2005.860205 · Cited by 367
World map of the status of human-induced soil degradation :
Ayoub, A., Oldeman, L. R., Hakkeling, R. T. A., & Sombroek, W. G. (1991) · Cited by 292
Research works printed but not linked: 4
- Bai Z.G., 2007, Land degradation and improvement in South Africa
- CIESIN, 2004, Global rural–urban mapping project: urban/rural extents
- JRC, 2003, Global Land Cover 2000 database
- Tucker C.J., 2004, Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) satellite drift corrected and NOAA‐16 incorporated normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI), monthly 1981–2002
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Whitmee, S., Haines, A., Beyrer, C., Boltz, F., Capon, A. G., de Souza Dias, B. F., Ezeh, A., Frumkin, H., Gong, P., Head, P., et al. (2015) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(15)60901-1 · Cited by 2,998
Soil structure and microbiome functions in agroecosystems
Hartmann, M., & Six, J. (2022) · Nature Reviews Earth & Environment · doi:10.1038/s43017-022-00366-w · Cited by 1,406
The role of biochar and biochar-compost in improving soil quality and crop performance: a review
Agegnehu, G., Srivastava, A. K., & Bird, M. I. (2017) · Applied Soil Ecology · doi:10.1016/j.apsoil.2017.06.008 · Cited by 928
Soil Degradation, Land Scarcity and Food Security: Reviewing a Complex Challenge
Gomiero, T. (2016) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su8030281 · Cited by 911
Fensholt, R., Langanke, T., Rasmussen, K., Reenberg, A., Prince, S. D., Tucker, C. J., Scholes, R. J., Le, Q. B., Bondeau, A., Eastman, R., et al. (2012) · Remote Sensing of Environment · doi:10.1016/j.rse.2012.01.017 · Cited by 836
Self-citation
Metadata
- Authors
- Bai, Z. G., Dent, D. L., Olsson, L., & Schaepman, M. E.
- Affiliations
- ISRIC - World Soil Information (NL)
- Lund University (SE)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Dent, D. L.
- Venue
- Soil Use and Management
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2008-08-22
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 223-234
- ISSN
- 0266-0032 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-2743
- OpenAlex
- W2162414982
- Cited by
- 987
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 34 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 56 · 2023: 68 · 2022: 72 · 2021: 81 · 2020: 87 · 2019: 88 · 2018: 63 · 2017: 55 · 2016: 63 · 2015: 63 · 2014: 64 · 2013: 51 · 2012: 36
- FWCI
- 17.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Soil Use and Management (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion)
- Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling (acceptedVersion)
- Lund University Publications (Lund University) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Remote Sensing in Agriculture
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil erosion and sediment transport
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Land Use and Ecosystem Services
- Keywords
- land degradation, NDVI, precipitation use efficiency, net primary productivity, GIMMS, remote sensing, rainfall effects on vegetation
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