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Many regions in the world are affected by land degradation. Successive development projects have promoted a variety of soil and water conservation (SWC) measures to prevent further land degradation. However, these measures have seldom been adopted on a large scale. This paper deals with the adoption process of investments in SWC measures, and with the factors influencing adoption and continued use of these measures. After a theoretical introduction, whereby three phases in the adoption process are distinguished, it presents and compares some results of independent empirical research projects on adoption of SWC measures in five developing countries. Some general conclusions are drawn from these diverse research results.