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Desertification is land degradation in arid and semi-arid regions from both climatic and anthropogenic causes. The Northern Mediterranean with its irregular rainfall, poor soils, abandonment of traditional agriculture and unsustainable water exploitation has been recognised as a region with increasing desertification problems.

The MEDALUS project was set up to improve the scientific basis for understanding and managing semi-arid environments that are undergoing great change. The material presented includes the results of interdisciplinary in-depth investigations undertaken over the last 10 years. It will provide a unique collection of research results that will assist rural planners, and regional and national authorities in preparing plans for mitigation. Includes:Field based research carried out in the MEDALUS project

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This book is an account of the 1986 Royal Geographical Society expedition to the Wahiba Sands in Oman made by 30 scientists with the purpose of studying the people, animals and plants of a remarkable desert area about the size of Wales. The author tells of the preparations needed to get the project off the ground and the team's experiences in Oman, where part of its brief was to work closely with the local Bedu. As well as identifying new species of plants and insects, and using all the latest computer technology to study the formations of sand and forest, the team developed close ties with the Bedu communities, travelling across the sands by camel. The members gained an understanding which could be used to protect similar deserts under threat in today's world. ... Read more

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Designed for advanced level secondary students, this geography text studies desertification, the encroachment of arable land by desert which threatens an estimated 35% of the Earth's land surface. It explains the causes of desertification, how it can be measured and combatted, and questions whether the situation is actually happening at the scale suggested. The author focuses on questions that have made desertification a major issue, and highlights the difficulties involved in dealing with such a broad-scale physical and social topic. Case study material and exercises are included in the text. ... Read more

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This book deals with the role of plants in combatingdesertification. Desertification -- the degradation of soils indrylands -- is a phenomenon occurring in scores of countriesaround the globe. The number of people (in semiarid regions) affectedby the steady decline in the productivity of their lands is in thehundred millions.

This work provides the reader with the experience of scientists from30 countries and international institutions around the globe, workingin cold and warm dry regions to bring plant-based solutions to one ofthe most severe problems of our times. The measures required to haltor reverse the process of desertification fall into many categories-- policy, institutional, sociological/anthropological, andtechnical. ... Read more

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This work examines the important factors which affect the environment and accelerate desertification in the fragile savannah ecosystems in the Upper West region of Ghana. ... Read more

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Drylands have been cradles to some of the world’s greatest civilizations, and contemporary dryland communities feature rich and unique cultures. Dryland ecosystems support a surprising amount of biodiversity. Desertification, however, is a significant land degradation problem in the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions of the world. Deterioration of soil and plant cover has adversely affected 70% of the world’s drylands as a result of extended droughts as well as mismanagement of range and cultivated lands. The situation is likely to worsen with high population growth rates and accompanying land-use conflicts.

The contributions to The Future of Drylands – an international scientific conference held under the leadership of UNESCO – address these issues and offer practical solutions for combating desertification along with conserving and sustainably managing dryland ecosystems. Major themes include the conservation of dryland biological and cultural diversity and the human dryland interface. This volume documents how our improved understanding of drylands provides insight into the health and future prospects of these precious ecosystems that should help ensure that dryland communities enjoy a sustainable future.

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This controversial book argues that the reality of the expanding desert is not so much an objective scientific fact as a political, social and observational construct. Examines the origin of the desertification myth, how it spawned multimillion dollar research initiatives and became a leading environmental issue. Uses new research findings to demonstrate that this highly vaunted problem is extremely smaller and less locally significant than previously accepted. Includes a wealth of illustrations from global examples. ... Read more

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With reference to Rajasthan, India. ... Read more

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Desertfication - defined for the purposes of this book as "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities" - is now a direct threat to over 250 million people around the world, and an indirect threat to a further 750 million people. In the last 25 years, desertification has become increasingly apparent in the dry sub-humid regions of the world, where average annual rainfall ranges from 750 to 1500mm, and where the majority of the human inhabitants of the drylands now live.

Two leading scientists, jointly commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Meteorological Organization, have produced a referenced report on current knowledge of the interactions of desertification and climate in the drylands (excluding hyper-arid regions) of the world. They conclude by making a series of recommendations for future dryland management strategy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

the best book on desertification
In my limited readings on desertification (about 10 books), this is the only book that covers desertification comprehensively. While other books tell you that desertification is a long-term land degradation and is causedby mismanagement of land, this book covers the climatic factor as well. Howclimate influences the hydrologic cycle, vegetation and soil, and how inturn these factors affected by human actions lead to qualitative changes insoil and vegetation. It also suggests a few steps towards mitigatingdesertification. In overall, this book deserves a 5! ... Read more

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Seminar papers. ... Read more

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This publication collects the results of a practical experience of survey, through the direct control of satellite images from high to medium resolution, over areas subjected to desertification problems. The problems of the local population are closely tied to the equilibrium in the management of the territory, which is compromised by the difficulties of maintaining traditional methodologies of management. The new survey technologies, based on the Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System, allow analyzing the details of the present situation and point out the dynamism of the phenomena and the impacts with anthropogenic activities.

Training has been carried out in the Tozeur area, in central Tunisia, where participants had the chance to analyze on the field a series of different aspects. It has also been possible to discuss similar experiences in distant territories and the importance of the physical processes of desertification. During the development of the intensive training on the job, visits to entrepreneurial truths concerning the management of the territory have been carried out. The analyzed area finds in tourism an answer to the necessities of improving the living conditions of the population.

Specialists from twelve nations presented actions of management of the territory, with detailed attention on environmental security and the conditions of the territory. From the observations carried out the fragility of the landscape of the oases has emerged, which are subjected to total anthropogenic management and therefore closely linked to the availability of the specialized workers in the traditional methodologies. It is natural that the management of the lands changes according to modern technologies, but, with a too fast pace, this evolution risks to upset the management of the territory. The exchange of information, the ability to map the variations, the dialogue between the parts, will favor the maintenance of the political security in the Mediterranean region. This experience of cooperation and association constitutes a precedent for the development of a system of high education courses to be provided to the local communities for the common wellbeing.