IFPRI Brief on the Economics of Land Degradation

Land degradation poses a serious threat to long-term food security, yet investments in its prevention and mitigation have lagged. A new study analyzes why this is the case and recommends three priority actions for the international development community:

• Decentralize natural resource management, invest in agricultural research and development, and build local capacity for participatory programs;
• Scale up applied research;
• Use the models of influential global initiatives in natural resource management to tackle land and soil degradation.

For more information, you can find the issue brief “Economics of Land Degradation: The Costs of Action versus Inaction” here: http://www.ifpri.org/publication/economics-land-degradation. The brief is based on a new book that contains case studies from India, Kenya, Niger, and Peru.