In recent years, considerable progress has been made in the area of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) that improve ecosystem functions of environments and landscapes affected by agricultural practices and land degradation, while enhancing livelihoods and other social and cultural functions. This has opened up a portfolio of NbS options that offer a pragmatic way forward for simultaneously addressing conservation, climate and socioeconomic objectives while maintaining healthy and productive agricultural systems. NbS can mimic natural processes and build on land restoration and operational water-land management concepts that aim to simultaneously improve vegetation and water availability and quality, and raise agricultural productivity. NbS can involve conserving or rehabilitating natural ecosystems and/or the enhancement or the creation of natural processes in modified or artificial ecosystems. In agricultural landscapes, NbS can be applied for soil health, soil moisture, carbon mitigation (through soil and forestry), downstream water quality protections, biodiversity benefits as well as agricultural production and supply chains to achieve net-zero environmental impacts while achieving food and water security, and meet climate goals.

Wetlands are an important, and sadly diminishing, habitat in many parts of the world. They contribute significantly to the planet's biodiversity, housing thousands of species of plants and animals. Increasingly, human management is required to sustain, and even create these fragile ecosystems, while global changes in climate are also taking their t

Fishponds represent a rich natural and cultural heritage of tremendous importance and are of great economic value to the regions in which they are found. This is particularly true of the fishponds found in Central and Eastern Europe, some of which were established 5 and 600 years ago. However, the social, cultural, economic and political upheaval that has characterised the recent history of the region has brought in its wake serious implications for their survival. This report, the results of a project entitled "Environmental/economic appraisal of commercial fish pond operations in four Central European countries" draws on the experiences of four participating countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to assess the natural and economic values of their fishponds and proposes a series of recommendations for their future conservation.

The loss and fragmentation of natural habitats is one of the major issues in wildlife management and conservation. Habitat "corridors" are sometimes proposed as an important element within a conservation strategy. Examples are given of corridors both as pathways and as habitats in their own right. Includes detailed reviews of principles relevant to the design and management of corridors, their place in regional approaches to conservation planning, and recommendations for research and management.

Soils and Landscape Restoration provides a multidisciplinary synthesis on the sustainable management and restoration of soils in various landscapes. The book presents applicable knowledge of above- and below-ground interactions and biome specific realizations along with in-depth investigations of particular soil degradation pathways. It focuses on severely degraded soils (e.g., eroded, salinized, mined) as well as the restoration of wetlands, grasslands and forests. The book addresses the need to bring together current perspectives on land degradation and restoration in soil science and restoration ecology to better incorporate soil-based information when restoration plans are formulated. - Incudes a chapter on climate change and novel ecosystems, thus collating the perspective of soil scientists and ecologists on this consequential and controversial topic - Connects science to international policy and practice - Includes summaries at the end of each chapter to elucidate principles and key points