Glossary

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2 FAO. 2022. The State of the World’s Forests 2022 – Forest pathways for green recovery and building inclusive, resilient and sustainable economies. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9360en

3 FAO, IFAD (International Fund for Agricultural Development), UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund), WFP (World Food Programme) & WHO (World Health Organization). 2024. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 – Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1254en

4 Brondizio, E., Diaz, S., Settele, J. & Ngo, H.T. eds. 2019. Global assessment report on biodiversity and ecosystem services of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Bonn, Germany, IPBES. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.3831673

5 TEEB (The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity). 2018. TEEB for agriculture & food: Scientific and economic foundations. Geneva, Switzerland, UN Environment. https://teebweb.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Foundations_Report_Final_October.pdf

6 FAO. 2024. The State of the World’s Forests 2024 – Forest-sector innovations towards a more sustainable future. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd1211en

7 Pereira, A. 2025. green revolution. In: Britannica.[Cited 23 May 2025]. https://www.britannica.com/event/green-revolution

8 Acheson, J. 2000. Varieties of Institutional Failure. Conference Paper. Bloomington, USA. https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/bitstream/handle/10535/577/iascpkeynote.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

9 Acheson, J.M. 2006. Institutional Failure in Resource Management. Annual Review of Anthropology, 35(1): 117–134. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.35.081705.123238

10 Daskalova, G.N. & Kamp, J. 2023. Abandoning land transforms biodiversity. Science, 380(6645): 581–583. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf1099

11 Næss, J.S., Cavalett, O. & Cherubini, F. 2021. The land–energy–water nexus of global bioenergy potentials from abandoned cropland. Nature Sustainability, 4(6): 525–536. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-020-00680-5

12 Potapov, P., Turubanova, S., Hansen, M.C., Tyukavina, A., Zalles, V., Khan, A., Song, X.-P., Pickens, A., Shen, Q. & Cortez, J. 2022. Global maps of cropland extent and change show accelerated cropland expansion in the twenty-first century. Nature Food, 3(1): 19–28. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00429-z

13 FAO. 2025. Land Cover and Land Use. In: Geospatial information for sustainable food systems. [Cited 22 January 2025]. https://www.fao.org/geospatial/our-work/what-we-do/land-cover-and-land-use/en

14 FAO. 2022. The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2021 – Systems at breaking point. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9910en

15 Biancalani, R., Nachtergaele, F., Petri, M. & Bunning, S. 2013. Land degradation assessment in drylands – Methodology and results. Rome, FAO. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/c78b773c-f6dd-4999-a196-6d175ae97abd/content

16 Wuepper, D., Borrelli, P., Panagos, P., Lauber, T., Crowther, T., Thomas, A. & Robinson, D.A. 2021. A ‘debt’ based approach to land degradation as an indicator of global change. Global Change Biology, 27(21): 5407–5410. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15830

17 UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification). 2025. Land Degradation Neutrality. In: UNCCD. [Cited 16 April 2025]. https://www.unccd.int/land-and-life/land-degradation-neutrality/overview

18 UNCCD. 2017. Land Degradation Neutrality – Transformative action, tapping opportunities. Bonn, Germany. https://www.unccd.int/resources/publications/land-degradation-neutrality-transformative-action-tapping-opportunities

19 FAO. 2022. Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security. First revision. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/i2801e

20 FAO. 2018. Guidelines for the measurement of productivity and efficiency in agriculture. Rome. https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/ca6395en

21 FAO. 2025. Sustainable Land Management. In: FAO. [Cited 25 July 2025]. https://www.fao.org/land-water/land/sustainable-land-management/en

22 Fuglie, K.O., Morgan, S. & Jelliffe, J., eds. 2024. World agricultural production, resource use, and productivity, 1961–2020. Economic Information Bulletin, No. 268. Washington, DC, Economic Research Service. https://doi.org/10.32747/2024.8327789.ers

Chapter 1

1 FAO. 2021. The White/Wiphala Paper on Indigenous Peoples’ food systems. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4932en

2 IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). 2019. Climate Change and Land: An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/11/SRCCL-Full-Report-Compiled-191128.pdf

3 FAO. 2022. The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture 2021 – Systems at breaking point. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9910en

4 FAO. 2024. Employment indicators 2000–2022. October 2024 update. FAOSTAT Analytical Briefs, No. 92. Rome. https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cd2186en

5 United Nations, European Commission, FAO, OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) & World Bank. 2025. System of Environmental-Economic Accounting: Ecosystem Accounting. Manuals & Guides. Washington, DC, United Nations. https://doi.org/10.5089/9789212591834.069

6 Fukase, E. & Martin, W. 2020. Economic growth, convergence, and world food demand and supply. World Development, 132: 104954. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104954

7 FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP & WHO. 2023. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023 – Urbanization, agrifood systems transformation and healthy diets across the rural–urban continuum. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc3017en

8 Olsson, L., Barbosa, H., Bhadwal, S., Cowie, A., Delusca, K., Flores-Renteria, D., Hermans, K. et al. 2019. Chapter 4: Land Degradation. In: IPCC. Climate Change and Land: An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2019/11/SRCCL-Full-Report-Compiled-191128.pdf

9 Dotterweich, M. 2013. The history of human-induced soil erosion: Geomorphic legacies, early descriptions and research, and the development of soil conservation – A global synopsis. Geomorphology, 201: 1–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2013.07.021

10 Dotterweich, M. 2008. The history of soil erosion and fluvial deposits in small catchments of central Europe: Deciphering the long-term interaction between humans and the environment – A review. Geomorphology, 101(1–2): 192–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2008.05.023

11 Butzer, K.W. 2005. Environmental history in the Mediterranean world: cross-disciplinary investigation of cause-and-effect for degradation and soil erosion. Journal of Archaeological Science, 32(12): 1773–1800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2005.06.001

12 Bocquet-Appel, J.-P. 2011. When the World’s Population Took Off: The Springboard of the Neolithic Demographic Transition. Science, 333(6042): 560–561. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1208880

13 Bujones, A., Jaskiewicz, K., Linakis, L. & McGirr, M. 2013. A Framework for Analyzing Resilience In Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations. Columbia University SIPA, USAID. https://www.sipa.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/migrated/migrated/documents/USAID%2520Final%2520Report.pdf

14 FAO. 2021. The State of Food and Agriculture 2021 – Making agrifood systems more resilient to shocks and stresses. 2021. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4476en

15 Coppus, R. 2023. The global distribution of human-induced land degradation and areas at risk – SOLAW21 Technical background report. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cc2843en

16 Ziadat, F., Conchedda, G., Haddad, F., Njeru, J., Brès, A., Dawelbait, M. & Li, L. 2025. Desertification and Agrifood Systems: Restoration of Degraded Agricultural Lands in the Arab Region. Agriculture, 15(12): 1249. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture15121249

17 Nkonya, E., Anderson, W., Kato, E., Koo, J., Mirzabaev, A., von Braun, J. & Meyer, S. 2016. Global Cost of Land Degradation. In: E. Nkonya, A. Mirzabaev & J. von Braun, eds. Economics of Land Degradation and Improvement – A Global Assessment for Sustainable Development. Cham, Switzerland, Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19168-3_6

18 FAO. 2025. Land Cover and Land Use. In: Geospatial information for sustainable food systems. [Cited 22 January 2025]. https://www.fao.org/geospatial/our-work/what-we-do/land-cover-and-land-use/en

19 FAO. 2025. Land statistics 2001–2023. FAOSTAT Analytical Briefs, No. 107. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd5765en

20 FAO. 2022. FRA 2020 Remote Sensing Survey. FAO Forestry Paper, No. 186. Rome. https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/cb9970en

21 King, R., Benton, T., Froggatt, A., Harwatt, H., Quiggin, D. & Wellesley, L. 2023. The emerging global crisis of land use: How rising competition for land threatens international and environmental stability, and how the risks can be mitigated. London, Royal Institute of International Affairs. https://doi.org/10.55317/9781784135430

22 Campbell, J.E., Lobell, D.B., Genova, R.C. & Field, C.B. 2008. The Global Potential of Bioenergy on Abandoned Agriculture Lands. Environmental Science & Technology, 42(15): 5791–5794. https://doi.org/10.1021/es800052w

23 Hansen, M.C., Potapov, P.V., Pickens, A.H., Tyukavina, A., Hernandez-Serna, A., Zalles, V., Turubanova, S. et al. 2022. Global land use extent and dispersion within natural land cover using Landsat data. Environmental Research Letters, 17(3): 034050. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ac46ec

24 Foster, A.D. & Rosenzweig, M.R. 2010. Microeconomics of Technology Adoption. Annual Review of Economics, 2: 395–424. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.economics.102308.124433

25 FAO. 2022. The State of Food and Agriculture 2022 – Leveraging agricultural automation for transforming agrifood systems. 2022. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb9479en

26 Ricciardi, V., Mehrabi, Z., Wittman, H., James, D. & Ramankutty, N. 2021. Higher yields and more biodiversity on smaller farms. Nature Sustainability, 4(7): 651–657. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00699-2

27 Noack, F., Larsen, A., Kamp, J. & Levers, C. 2022. A bird’s eye view of farm size and biodiversity: The ecological legacy of the iron curtain. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 104(4): 1460–1484. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12274

28 FAO. 2019. Methodology for computing and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goal indicators 2.3.1 and 2.3.2. FAO Statistics Working Paper Series, No. 18-14. Rome. https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/f6e43e27-cbf4-4617-a832-14e35b057a21/content

29 USDA (United States Department of Agriculture). 2010. Small Farms, Big Differences. In: U.S. Department of Agriculture. [Cited 15 May 2025]. https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/blog/small-farms-big-differences

30 Herrero, M., Thornton, P.K., Power, B., Bogard, J.R., Remans, R., Fritz, S., Gerber, J.S. et al. 2017. Farming and the geography of nutrient production for human use: a transdisciplinary analysis. The Lancet Planetary Health, 1(1): e33–e42. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(17)30007-4

31 Lowder, S.K., Sánchez, M.V. & Bertini, R. 2021. Which farms feed the world and has farmland become more concentrated? World Development, 142: 105455. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105455

32 Rossi, R. 2022. Small farms’ role in the EU food system. Brussels, European Parliamentary Research Service. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document/EPRS_BRI(2022)733630

33 Lowder, S., Arslan, A., Cabrera Cevallos, C.E., O’Neill, M. & de la O Campos, A.P. 2025. A global update on the number of farms, farm size and farmland distribution – Background paper for The State of Food and Agriculture 2025. FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Paper 25-14. Rome, FAO.

34 Huber, R., Bartkowski, B., Brown, C., El Benni, N., Feil, J.-H., Grohmann, P., Joormann, I., Leonhardt, H., Mitter, H. & Müller, B. 2024. Farm typologies for understanding farm systems and improving agricultural policy. Agricultural Systems, 213: 103800. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2023.103800

35 Lawry, S., Samii, C., Hall, R., Leopold, A., Hornby, D. & Mtero, F. 2017. The impact of land property rights interventions on investment and agricultural productivity in developing countries: a systematic review. Journal of Development Effectiveness, 9(1): 61–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/19439342.2016.1160947

36 Hlatshwayo, S.I., Ngidi, M., Ojo, T., Modi, A.T., Mabhaudhi, T. & Slotow, R. 2021. A Typology of the Level of Market Participation among Smallholder Farmers in South Africa: Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces. Sustainability, 13(14): 7699. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147699

37 Fertő, I. & Bojnec, Š. 2024. Empowering women in sustainable agriculture. Scientific Reports, 14: 7110. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-57933-y

38 Jung, M., Boucher, T.M., Wood, S.A., Folberth, C., Wironen, M., Thornton, P., Bossio, D. & Obersteiner, M. 2024. A global clustering of terrestrial food production systems. PLOS ONE, 19(2): e0296846. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0296846

39 Gobin, A. & Van Herzele, A. 2023. A Data-Driven Farm Typology as a Basis for Agricultural Land Use Decisions. Land, 12(11): 2032. https://doi.org/10.3390/land12112032

40 Deininger, K. 2003. Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction. World Bank Policy Research Report. Washington, DC, Oxford University Press. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/05d6d32a-4620-5c6b-bdea-ed3d82a4560b

41 FAO. 2011. The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–11 – Women in agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development. Rome. https://www.fao.org/3/a-i2050e.pdf

42 IFAD & UNEP. 2013. Smallholders, food security, and the environment. Rome. https://www.ifad.org/documents/38714170/39135645/smallholders_report.pdf/133e8903-0204-4e7d-a780-bca847933f2e

43 Biancalani, R., Nachtergaele, F., Petri, M. & Bunning, S. 2013. Land degradation assessment in drylands. Methodology and results. Rome, FAO. https://www.fao.org/3/a-i3241e.pdf

44 IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services). 2018. Assessment Report on Land Degradation and Restoration. Bonn, Germany. https://www.ipbes.net/node/28328

45 UNCCD. 2022. Global Land Outlook 2nd edition. Bonn, Germany. https://www.unccd.int/resources/global-land-outlook/global-land-outlook-2nd-edition

46 Kaiser, S. 2021. Land Degradation: Causes, Impacts, and Interlinks with the Sustainable Development Goals. In: W. Leal Filho, A.M. Azul, L. Brandli, P.G. Özuyar & T. Wall, eds. Responsible Consumption and Production. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Cham, Switzerland, Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71062-4_48-1

47 UNCCD. 2017. Land Degradation Neutrality: Transformative action, tapping opportunities. Bonn, Germany. https://www.unccd.int/resources/publications/land-degradation-neutrality-transformative-action-tapping-opportunities

48 FAO. 1999. Chapter 3. Land degradation. In: Poverty alleviation and food security in Asia: Land resources. Rome. https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/x6625e

49 FAO & ITPS (Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils). 2015. Status of the world’s soil resources – Main report. Rome. https://www.fao.org/3/a-i5199e.pdf

50 FAO. 1976. A framework for land evaluation. Soils Bulletin, No. 32. Rome. https://openknowledge.fao.org/handle/20.500.14283/x5310e

51 United Nations. 1994. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those countries experiencing serious drought and/or desertification, particularly in Africa. Bonn, Germany. https://www.unccd.int/resource/convention-text

52 Zheng, Q., Ha, T., Prishchepov, A.V., Zeng, Y., Yin, H. & Koh, L.P. 2023. The neglected role of abandoned cropland in supporting both food security and climate change mitigation. Nature Communications, 14: 60–83. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-41837-y

53 FAO. 2024. World Food and Agriculture – Statistical Yearbook 2024. Rome. https://openknowledge.fao.org/items/43ef9f2c-a023-4130-81ce-dc5ac3f825ef

54 Paull, J. 2011. Biodynamic Agriculture: The Journey from Koberwitz to the World, 1924-1938. Journal of Organic Systems, 6(1). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/279643274_Biodynamic_Agriculture_The_Journey_from_Koberwitz_to_the_World_1924-1938

55 DeClerck, F.A.J., Koziell, I., Sidhu, A., Wirths, J., Benton, T., Garibaldi, L.A., Kremen, C. et al. 2021. Biodiversity and agriculture: rapid evidence review. Colombo, International Water Management Institute and CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems. https://doi.org/10.5337/2021.215

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Chapter 2

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Chapter 3

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