Introduction -- Greater Central Asia : its peoples and their history and geography -- Biogeography and natural resources of greater Central Asia : an overview -- Managing the commons in the post-soviet transition : what are the challenges of institutional change in pastoral systems in Uzbekistan -- Sustainable land management : a dream or an economic and ecological imperative -- Sustainable land management : what do we want to sustain? -- Sustainable land management in greater Central Asia in a land degradation neutral context -- Barriers to sustainable land management in greater Central Asia : with special reference to the five former soviet republics -- The nature and extent of land degradation in greater Central Asia -- Assessment of land degradation process and identification of long-term trends in vegetation dynamics in the drylands of greater Central Asia -- Land degradation indicators : development and implementation by remote sensing techniques -- Mitigation of desertification and land degradation impacts and multilateral cooperation in greater Central Asia -- Thematic issues of SLM in great Central Asia -- Water in greater Central Asia : a cross-cutting management issue -- Water from the mountains of greater Central Asia : a resource under threat -- Consolidating and summarizing findings -- Greater Central Asia as the new frontier in the twenty-first century -- Greater Central Asia : China, Russia or multilateralism? -- Unifying perspectives on land, water, people, development and an agenda for future social-ecological research