Although the environmental and social impacts of climate change may exceed those of land degradation at some point in the future, the effects of land degradation are occurring now. Furthermore, while climate-change mitigation requires global solutions, individuals and communities can successfully reduce land degradation at the local level. We offer two recommendations. First, the current focus on climate-change research should be complemented by research on ecological processes associated with land degradation and the development of solutions based on an understanding of these processes. Second, an enhanced understanding of land potential is necessary to target  imited resources to increase agricultural production, conserve biodiversity, promote recovery of degraded lands, and adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change.