We define land degradation as a long-term decline in ecosystem function and productivity which may be assessed using long-term, remotely sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data.Deviation from the norm may serve as a proxy assessment of land degradation and improvement-if other factors that may be responsible are taken into account.These other factors include rainfall effects which may be assessed by rain-use efficiency,calculated from NDVI and rainfall.Analysis of the 31-year GIMMS NDVI data (1981-2011) indicates that greenness increased 5.3% in the southwest China karst region-4.3% in the karst landscape and 6.2% in non-karst landscape over the period.The southwest China karst region includes provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi (Dian-Qian-Gui) where karst-and non-karst landscape count on 49% and 51%, respectively.