Better understanding of consequences of interactions among LDR, poverty, climate change and the risk of conflict and migration

A better understanding of complex interactions between land degradation and other drivers of change like climate change is needed.  In particular, the importance of climate change for land degradation is most prominent through its role in exacerbating the impacts of other human activities and drivers but this would need to be further documented. Climate change impact on increasing frequency of heavy rainfall events and storms as well as heat waves and droughts are expected to have cascading effects on the frequency, intensity, extent and timing of these other drivers such as fires, pest and pathogen outbreaks, species invasions, soil erosion and landslides.

Although some studies have addressed the role of land degradation on exacerbating inequalities between haves and have-nots in both income and in resource access in particular in rural communities depending on agricultural production and employments, knowledge is still lacking on these complex relationships and how this can lead to increased conflict and involuntary migration.  Another aspect that would need to be further explored is the current importance of environmental income – incomes from the harvest of non-cultivated products in the natural environment – for the poorest communities and how this might evolve and influence inequalities with increased land degradation.