Saving soils at degradation frontlines: Sustainable land management in drylands (CDE Policy Brief)

Gudrun Schwilch, Hanspeter Liniger & Anu Lannen (2015)

Healthy soils are fundamental to life. They grow the food we eat and the wood we use for shelter and fuel, purify the water we drink, and hold fast to the roots of the natural world we cherish. They are the ground beneath our feet and beneath our homes. But they are under threat, especially from human overuse and climate change. Nowhere is this more

evident than in dryland areas, where soil  degradation – or desertification – wears away at this essential resource, sometimes with sudden rapidity

when a tipping point is crossed. Though it is a  challenge, preserving and restoring healthy soils in drylands is possible, and it concerns all of us. Sustainable land management points the way.