Letter to the editor: Comments on ‘Proxy global assessment of land degradation’ by Bai et al. (2008)

Wessels, Konrad J2009-03-272009-03-272009-03Wessels, KJ. 2009. Letter to the editor: comments on ‘Proxy global assessment of land degradation’ by Bai et al. 2008. Soil Use and Management, Vol. 25(1), pp 91-920266-0032www.blackwell-synergy.comhttp://hdl.handle.net/10204/3267Copyright: 2009 Blackwell Publishing LtdThere is an urgent need for a quantitative, repeatable measure of land degradation and remote sensing provides the only viable option at a regional to global scale. It is therefore commendable that Bai et al. (2008) attempted to use remote sensing methods to quantify trends in land degradation across the globe. However, their rationale and methods contain some fatal flaws and thus the results can be very misleading. As this analysis is used by the FAO Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands (LADA) programme to identify ‘hot spots’ of land degradation, the errors in the paper might have serious consequencesenLand degradationRemote sensingLetter to the editor: Comments on ‘Proxy global assessment of land degradation’ by Bai et al. (2008)ArticleWessels, K. J. (2009). Letter to the editor: Comments on ‘Proxy global assessment of land degradation’ by Bai et al. (2008). http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3267Wessels, Konrad J "Letter to the editor: Comments on ‘Proxy global assessment of land degradation’ by Bai et al. (2008)." (2009) http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3267Wessels KJ. Letter to the editor: Comments on ‘Proxy global assessment of land degradation’ by Bai et al. (2008). 2009; http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3267.TY - Article AU - Wessels, Konrad J AB - There is an urgent need for a quantitative, repeatable measure of land degradation and remote sensing provides the only viable option at a regional to global scale. It is therefore commendable that Bai et al. (2008) attempted to use remote sensing methods to quantify trends in land degradation across the globe. However, their rationale and methods contain some fatal flaws and thus the results can be very misleading. As this analysis is used by the FAO Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands (LADA) programme to identify ‘hot spots’ of land degradation, the errors in the paper might have serious consequences DA - 2009-03 DB - ResearchSpace DP - CSIR KW - Land degradation KW - Remote sensing LK - https://researchspace.csir.co.za PY - 2009 SM - 0266-0032 T1 - Letter to the editor: Comments on ‘Proxy global assessment of land degradation’ by Bai et al. (2008) TI - Letter to the editor: Comments on ‘Proxy global assessment of land degradation’ by Bai et al. (2008) UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10204/3267 ER -