Each year the world loses $42.3 billion because of desertification. But when its leaders meet to discuss the fast spreading problem, all they can do is wrangle about funds

NGOs stressed the empowerment of local communities as an important factor in halting desertification

Thai farmers switched to tapioca in the 1960s to meet the demand in the European market. But today, European environmentalists are demanding the imports be stopped because tapioca has ruined the soil in Thailand

Fluctuations in the international cotton market has resulted in massive degradation of land in West Africa

Many economists now argue that nature cannot be the provider of a perpetual free lunch. It's time to account for natural resource degradation while drawing up balance sheets

The government is basing economic policies on rough calculations of the value of trees

Norway's experience shows that resource accounting is not enough, political will to change things is just as imperative

An interview with Siddu B Nyame Gowda, who is now the Union minister of state for coal and mines.