The dominant drivers of desertification in the study sites were identified (through stakeholder workshops and other questionnaires) as

• outmigration,
• lack of planning,
• mono-plantations,
• land fragmentation,
• intensification of agriculture,
• population growth/poverty,
• land tenure,
• land management decline,
• climate change.

Further discussion of each of these is given in »Overview of main drivers of desertification.

However, each study site has its own particular combination of socio-economic and environmental desertification drivers which in turn have particular pressures and impacts on the area. The actual or potential responses to these impacts take the form of the application of different technologies and approaches and these are fully explored and described in »Potential prevention and mitigation strategies.

Land use in each study site is also subject to a mix of international, national and local policy regulations and agreements which also have an impact on desertification and land degradation. These include

1. International policy agreements and national contributions to them:

• United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, and its National Action Plans (7 sites)
• Agenda 21 and environmental action plans and protection laws (7 sites)
• Common Agricultural Policy (in Europe) (3 sites)
• National Strategy for Poverty Reduction (1 site)
• Natura 2000 (1 site)
• Convention on Biological Diversity, and national plans and regulations (1 site)
• European Water Framework Directive (1 site)

2. National and local agreements:

• Subsidy schemes, regulations, laws on irrigation, water management, waste and flood control (9 sites)
• Forestry laws and forest management regulations (5 sites)
• agricultural laws and regulations, such as national policy on agricultural development (5 sites)
• laws and national strategies on soil conservation and prevention and control of desertification (3 sites)
• bonus programme on rehabilitation of degraded lands (1 site)
• regional development plan (1 site)
• official establishments of protected areas and national parks (1 site)
• national strategy for rangeland improvement (1 site)
• land management law (1 site) and grassland law (1 site)
• Community Based Natural Resource Management Policy (1 site)
• Tourism policies (1 site)
• Emigration policies (1 site)
• National plan for rural biogas development (1 site)
• Revised National Policy on Education (1 site)
• Order in council on protection of air (1 site)
• Order in council on norms related to construction projects for entertainment building