The global component of LADA provides a baseline assessment of global trends in land degradation using a range of indicators collected by processing satellite data and existing global databases. The main indicators are:
•Net Primary Productivity (NPP)
•Rainfall Use Efficiency (RUE)
•Aridity Index
•Rainfall variability
•Erosion risk
These indicators are then interpreted on the basis of a Global Land Use Systems map , which provides an overview of the main factors due to human interventions that affect the development of land degradation in a given area.
These are:
•Land cover
•Urban and protected areas
•Livestock pressure
•Irrigation Crops
•Temperature and thermal regime
•Rainfall regime
•Dominant soils and terrain slope
•Population density
•Poverty
Land Use Systems (LUS) mapping - Land use is considered the major driving force of land degradation. LUS mapping analyses natural resources, land cover and socio-economic data using a combination of simple spatial modelling and expert knowledge. The LUS-map units also include other sets of biophysical and socio-economic information of relevance to land resources and ecosystems degradation that provide a cartographic basis for national assessments.
