ИСТИНА

UN CBD and CCD – joint actions and crossed targets, overlapping issues and obligations of parties involved. International JLG (Joint liaison group) and its work programme. Dilemma: effective International collaboration and/or weak national level for joint actions. Top-down pulls and pushes and disinterest at the bottom level. Causes and possible incentives for improvement. Sustainable development goals as a platform for cooperation at national, regional and local levels. Linkages between land use, biodiversity and land degradation (key concepts): non linear feedback, non linear threshold effect, fast and slow (multispeed dynamics of ecosystems). Requirement of information and approaches from different disciplines. Sustainable land management (SLM) concept in dry lands. Key questions for general assessment (LUCID, 2004) and examples from Russia and Central Asia. How and why does land use affect biodiversity and vice versa, and how it results in land degradation? How has changes in land use reported above affected soil degradation and how do these changes vary in different agro-systems and natural habitats? How and why does biodiversity affect land degradation? Modern methods for documenting, and scientific and institutional possibilities in assessment and monitoring LADA (Land degradation assessment in drylands) and WOCAT (World overview of conservation approaches and technologies) concepts and possibilities. Limits and attainments. Nature protected areas and Clearing house mechanism: possibilities and challenges in drylands and drought affected areas. Country level efforts and activities. Positive results. National and regional programmes and interlinkage. Soils in drylands as a major natural resource, and biodiversity support system. Soil science based system for complicated desertification assessment. Temporal and spatial changes and variations in landscapes, assessment of changes in biodiversity and natural habitats, changes in agroecosystems. Scales of assessment and remote sensing application. Use of indicators. Evolutionary and ecological concept of desertification: mapping examples. Knowledge management and support decision making in sustainable land management (natural resources management). Positive and negative examples in Russia and Central Asia. General challenges, current issues, and alternative adaptive solutions.