Our findings, based on satellite imagery data, show that land degradation hotspots cover about 30% of the global land area, where about 3.2 billion people reside.
Grassland areas experienced the most severe degradation. A third of the global grasslands and a quarter of croplands and about 29% of forest mosaics with shrubs and grasslands. Unlike many past studies, the present study shows that land degradation is a global problem occurring in both developed and developing countries as well as in tropical and temperate regions. Ground-truthing data in our six case-study countries showed a high degree of congruity between satellite imagery data and community perceptions of land degradation, and an intermediate congruity on areas that experienced land improvement – suggesting our land degradation results are robust.