Abstract
Land degradation is perceived worldwide as a key process of resource depletion, representing a paradigmatic issue in national and supra-national political agendas for the 21st century in both advanced and emerging economies. Trying to delineate a ‘new lexicon of land degradation’, the present study contributes to a holistic thinking of driving forces in local communities and regional contexts through a refined analysis and discussion of (apparent and latent) factors of land degradation. Rethinking the importance of five notions (time, space, scale, systems, and response) having an intimate linkage with land degradation allows a refined understanding of socio-environmental dynamics and the most appropriate actions to combat (or mitigate) land resource depletion. The conclusions summarize the rationale proposed in this work, and provide a brief outlook on future research addressing land degradation, its drivers and consequences.
Highlights
Becoming progressively more volatile and less predictable over time and space, ecosystem dynamics in both advanced economies and emerging countries reflect a clear on-site operational dimension [1,2,3,4,5]
By reflecting complex ecosystem dynamics characterized by multiple dimensions of ecological risk, land degradation is a basic process of natural resource deterioration becoming a important issue in country and supra-national political agendas for the 21st century [13,14,15]
A truly sustainable development path reflects the interplay of multiple human–nature interactions, distinctively underlying the causes, consequences, and implications of land degradation
Summary
Becoming progressively more volatile and less predictable over time and space, ecosystem dynamics in both advanced economies and emerging countries reflect a clear on-site operational dimension [1,2,3,4,5]. Under conditions of increasing uncertainty and risk for ecosystems’ functioning worldwide [41], the present contribution emphasizes the appropriateness of a refined understanding of multidimensional ecological dimensions through formulation of an interpretative framework grounded on five basic notions (time, space, scale, system, response), that can be integrated for a better representation of ecosystem functioning [42]. This approach contributes to a re-thinking of key dimensions of change in socioeconomic contexts experiencing land degradation [43,44,45]. Building on a new lexicon of land degradation based on a philosophical and operational revision of few basic concepts [47], our paper concludes with a summary outlook on future research dealing with land degradation in contemporary socioeconomic systems
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