The degradation of land and water resources resulting primarily from agricultural activities has had enormous impact on human society. In order to alleviate this problem, an advanced understanding of the state of our resources and the process of degradation is needed. "Conserving Land, Protecting Water" includes an overview of existing literature focusing on global patterns of land and water degradation and discussions of new insights drawn from successful case studies on reversing soil and water degradation and their impact on food and environmental security.