Michael Anthony Stocking is the Professor of Natural Resource Development and immediate past Dean of the School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, United Kingdom. He has been involved in tropical agricultural development, land resources, conservation of biodiversity and soil conservation since 1969. His experience is in the sustainable use of natural resources through the appropriate development of conservation practices adapted to local socioeconomic and farming conditions. With field experience in sub-Saharan Africa, South America, and South and South-east Asia, his work involves soils investigations, land management, agricultural biodiversity and the relationship between land degradation and vegetation productivity.

Professor Stocking is currently Vice-Chair of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility. He is responsible for scientific advice on the ‘land degradation’ focal area of the GEF and the Operational Program (No.15) on ‘sustainable land management’. He has been a consultant adviser to many agencies including FAO, UNDP, UNEP, The World Bank, ADB, IUCN, WWF-UK, DFID, DANIDA, SIDA and NORAD. As a member of advisory and management boards to DFID, the United Nations University and the CGIAR, he is involved closely with international development aid and the promotion of research within developing countries. He chairs the Scientific Advisory Committees to CIAT-TSBF, as well as the GEF-UNEP project on below-ground biodiversity. He was the Associate Scientific Coordinator for the first GEF multi-national project on agricultural biodiversity: the UNU-UNEP People, Land Management and Environmental Change - PLEC (1996-2002) project. He has been the author and senior consultant for a number of large GEF projects, including the FAO-UNEP Land Degradation Assessment for Drylands (2004-10) and the World Bank International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (2005-7).  Until his appointment as STAP Vice-Chair, he was a regular STAP Roster reviewer of GEF projects for OP12, 13 and 15.  Training is a key component of his experience with courses offered in agriculture, resource assessment and management, land degradation control and sustainable rural livelihoods.

Professor Stocking is author of over 130 scientific papers, book chapters and reports, including seven books on various aspects of environment and devel­opment. His book entitled Handbook for the Field Assessment of Land Degradation is published in English (Earthscan, London) and Spanish (Mundi Prensa, Madrid) and an Arabic version is in translation. His two most recent books are Agricultural Biodiversity of Smallholder Farms of East Africa (2004, UNU Press) and Renewable Natural Resources Management for Mountain Communities (2005, ICIMOD).  His 2003 review paper in Science on the prospects for tropical soils and food security for the next 50 years is widely cited.

Downloadable files in PDF:

               My Full CV  

DEV Research Groups: Land Resources
 
Recent Publications

• Land Degradation Synthesis Study for the GEF
• State of the Planet 2006 - Tropical Soils
• Latest version of 'Global Impacts of Land Degradation' paper for GEF-STAP

2010
KAKABADSE, Y, SHILLING, J & STOCKING, M. 2010. Evaluation of the UNDP Contribution to Environmental Management for Poverty Reduction: the Poverty-Environment Nexus.  United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), New York, 95pp ISBN: 978-92-1126311-4 http://www.undp.org/evaluation/documents/thematic/pen/Eval_PEN.pdf

2008

STOCKING, M. 2008. Sustainable Land Management and its Relation to Climate Change.  Sixteenth Session of the Commission for Sustainable Development, United Nations Headquarters, New York.  Invited presentation:
http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/csd/csd16/LC/presentations/stocking.pdf

STOCKING, M. 2008. Developing a Global Strategy to Combat Land Degradation and Promote Sustainable Land Management.  Paper to the International Conference on Integrated Ecosystem Approaches and Applications, Beijing, 6-7 November.  Invited presentation.

2007

FERRARO, P & STOCKING, M. 2007. Sustainable Forest Management: STAP Guidance on Implementing the New Work Program. STAP Briefing Paper. Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel to the Global Environment Facility, Washington DC, 8 pp.
http://stapgef.unep.org/docs/folder.2006-01-09.1058206466/STAP%20Guidance%20on%20SFM.pdf

STOCKING, M. 2007. Land Degradation in the World's Most Acutely Affected Areas: Impacts on Human Livelihoods Especially in Mountainous Regions. Lead Presentation at UN Forum on Sustainable Land Management for Global Benefits, UN-HQ, New York, 27 March 2007, 7pp.
http://www.ony.unu.edu/seminars/2007/LandManagement/presentations/PaperStocking.pdf
 

STOCKING, M. 2007. Global Support to Facilitate the Early Development and Implementation of Land Degradation Programmes and Projects under the GEF Operational Program No.15.  Completion Report for Scientific and Technical Support to UNEP-GEF. Overseas Development Group, Norwich, 27pp.

STOCKING, M. (contributor) 2007. Resource Mobilization and the Status of Funding Activities Related to Land Degradation. Report prepared for the Global Environment Facility, Washington DC and the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD, Rome, 55pp.

2006

STOCKING, M. 2006. Land Degradation as a Global Environmental Issue: A Synthesis of Three Studies Commissioned by The Global Environment Facility to Strengthen the Knowledge Base to Support The Land Degradation Focal Area.  Report for GEF Council, 5-8 December, Document GEF/C.30/Inf.8.  Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, Global Environment Facility, Washington DC, 17pp.

STOCKING, M. 2006. Land degradation assessment in drylands – LADA.  In: Hurni, H., Giger, M and Meyer, K. (eds.) Soils on the Global Agenda. Developing international mechanisms for sustainable land management. IASUS Working Group of the International Union of Soil Sciences. Centre for Development and Environment, Bern, p. 26  ISBN 978-3-906151-93-X

STOCKING, M. 2006. Soils and land management – the role of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the CBD/FAO Soil Biodiversity Initiative.  In: Hurni, H., Giger, M and Meyer, K. (eds.) Soils on the Global Agenda. Developing international mechanisms for sustainable land management. IASUS Working Group of the International Union of Soil Sciences. Centre for Development and Environment, Bern, pp. 41-49.   ISBN 978-3-906151-93-X

STOCKING, M.A. 2006. Tropical soils and food security; the next fifty years. In: Kennedy, D (ed.) State of the Planet. Island Press, Washington DC, pp.49-58. ISBN: 1-59726-063-0    [updated version of Science paper, 2003]

MCDONAGH, J., STOCKING, M. & LU YUELAI 2006. The Global Impacts of Land Degradation. Report to the Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel, Global Environment Facility. Overseas Development Group, Norwich, 67pp.

BOIX, C., DE VENTE, J., ALBALADEJO, J. & STOCKING, M. 2006. Land degradation, soil conservation and rural livelihoods: A case study of the influence of financial subsidies and access to water in semi-arid Spain. In: Imeson, A. (ed.) Soil Conservation and Protection in Europe: the way ahead. Amsterdam: SCAPE, pp. 54-58. ISBN: 90-75312-06-7

2005

STOCKING, M., HELLEMAN, H. & WHITE, R. (eds.) 2005. Renewable Natural Resources Management for Mountain Communities.  International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Kathmandu, 314pp.   ISBN: 92-9115-028-2  [author or co-author for 5 chapters]
Download entire book from here (2.8 MB)

STOCKING, M., OBANDO, F.H. & TENGBERG, A. 2005. Soil Degradation and Its Impact on Plants in Drylands. Advances in GeoEcology 36: 355-368.  ISBN: 3-923381-49-2

STOCKING, M. (contributor) 2007. Resource Mobilization and the Status of Funding of Activities Related to Land Degradation. Report prepared for the Global Environment Facility, Washington DC and the Global Mechanism of the UNCCD, Rome, 55pp.

2006

GISLADOTTIR, G. & STOCKING, M. 2005. Land degradation control and the global environmental benefits. Land Degradation and Development 16: 99-112.  ISSN: 1085-3278 (printed version); 1099-145X (online version)

GISLADOTTIR, G. & STOCKING, M. 2005 (eds) Special Issue: Land degradation and mitigation.  Land Degradation and Development 16: 97  ISSN: 1085-3278 (printed version); 1099-145X (online version) 

2004

STOCKING, M. & McDONAGH, J.  2004. Measures Taken to Support the Implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification with a Particular Focus on Affected Developing Country Parties in Africa. Report by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. DFID, London, 27pp

STOCKING, M.A. 2004. Soil erosion and soil fertility. In: Forsyth, T. (ed) Encyclopedia of International Development. Routledge, London and New York, pp.647-648 ISBN 041525342X

2003

STOCKING, M. 2003. Tropical soils and food security: the next 50 years. Science 302 (5649): 1356-1359 (21 November)   ISSN 0036-8075
Link to Journal Article

KAIHURA, F. & STOCKING, M. (eds.) 2003. Agricultural Biodiversity in Small-Holder Farms of East Africa. United Nations University Press, Tokyo, 245pp.  ISBN 92-808-1088-X

STOCKING, M.A. 2003.  Erosion and crop yield. In:  Lal, R. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Soil Science. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp.1-4   (ISBN Print) 0-8247-0634-X; (Web) 0-8247-0518-1.

STOCKING, M. & MURNAGHAN, N. 2003.  Manual para la Evaluación de Campo de la Degradación de la Tierra. Mundi-Prensa Libros, Madrid. ISBN 84-8476-114-2   [Translation of Handbook for the Field Assessment of Land Degradation. Earthscan, London xvi + 169 pp.  2001.  ISBN 1-85383-831-4]

2002 & earlier

BROOKFIELD, H., PADOCH, C., PARSONS, H. &  STOCKING, M. (eds.) 2002. Cultivating Biodiversity: Understanding, Analysing and using Agricultural Biodiversity. ITDG Publishing, London [in association with United Nations University, United Nations Environment Programme and the Global Environment Facility]  ISBN 1-85339-493-9

STOCKING, M. 2000. Soil erosion and land degradation. In: Environmental Science for Environmental Management, 2^nd Edition. Pearson Education, Harlow, pp.288-321.   ISBN 0-582-35633-4

I am currently supervising the following research students:

Sheila Aggarwal-Khan; ‘International Environmental Governance’

Hari Dhungana; ‘Forest Resources and Social Justice: A Case Study of the Policies and Practices of Forest Resources Management in Nepal’

Fernando Diaz Lopez; ‘Environment, Technical Change and Innovation: The Case of the Mexican Chemical Industry’  (PhD awarded August 2008)

Belina Garcia Fajardo; ‘Multiple Values of Land Degredation Control: a Case Study from the Highlands of Central Mexico’

Zhiqiu Liu; ‘From Community to Household Responsibility: How Livelihoods and Agrobiodiversity Have Changed Rural China Since 1978’

Surendra Shrestha; ‘Do NGOs Empower the Poor and Socially Excluded? A Case Study from Nepal’ (PhD awarded April 2008)