Land Degradation Assessment with Earth Observation (Third Edition)

Dear Colleagues,

Land degradation continues to be recognized as one of the most critical environmental challenges of our time. Scientific studies and reports from international organizations consistently warn that vast portions of the Earth’s surface are undergoing degradation, with nearly half of the global population already living on affected lands. The consequences are far-reaching, disrupting vegetation dynamics, altering ecosystem services, and threatening biodiversity through habitat loss and species extinction.

Recent global assessments underscore the scale of the problem: Between 20% and 40% of the world’s land area is considered degraded. Each year, approximately 24 billion tons of fertile soil are lost, and if current trends persist, up to 95% of the planet’s land could be degraded by 2050.

The drivers of land degradation are complex and multifaceted, involving both human-induced and climatic factors. Key contributors include soil erosion (by water and wind), salinization, gully formation, extreme weather events, land use and cover changes, agricultural intensification or abandonment, deforestation, urban sprawl, overgrazing, bush encroachment, fuelwood harvesting, and prolonged drought.

Remote sensing has emerged as the cornerstone of land degradation assessment. Over the past decade, the field has benefited immensely from advances in sensor technology, increased computational power, and the proliferation of open access satellite data. These developments have enabled scholars to perform a wide range of studies employing diverse spatial, spectral, and temporal resolutions, often integrating multiscale and multisensor methodologies.

In support of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15.3—achieving land degradation neutrality by 2030—the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) has adopted a global framework for monitoring land degradation. This approach leverages Earth observation data to track three core sub-indicators: changes in land cover, shifts in vegetation productivity, and variations in soil organic carbon.

This third volume of the Special Issue on “Land Degradation Assessment with Earth Observation” invites original research contributions that explore degradation processes across a range of ecosystems, including drylands (arid, semiarid, and dry-subhumid zones), temperate rangelands, grasslands, woodlands, peatlands, and tropical forests. We welcome studies conducted at any spatial or temporal scale, and are eager to publish scholarship addressing both rapid and gradual degradation dynamics. Submissions employing time series analysis to detect and characterize declines in land productivity are particularly encouraged. Furthermore, we welcome papers that apply the SDG Indicator 15.3.1 framework for monitoring land degradation.

Dr. Elias Symeonakis
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• land degradation
• desertification
• deforestation
• drought
• soil erosion
• land use/cover change
• habitat degradation
• multitemporal analysis
• time-series analysis
• SDG 15.3.1

• Land Degradation Assessment with Earth Observation (Second Edition) in Remote Sensing (10 articles)
• Land Degradation Assessment with Earth Observation in Remote Sensing (18 articles)