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Author: Diana K. Davis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262034522
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 302
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Book Description
An argument that the perception of arid lands as wastelands is politically motivated and that these landscapes are variable, biodiverse ecosystems, whose inhabitants must be empowered. Deserts are commonly imagined as barren, defiled, worthless places, wastelands in need of development. This understanding has fueled extensive anti-desertification efforts—a multimillion-dollar global campaign driven by perceptions of a looming crisis. In this book, Diana Davis argues that estimates of desertification have been significantly exaggerated and that deserts and drylands—which constitute about 41% of the earth's landmass—are actually resilient and biodiverse environments in which a great many indigenous people have long lived sustainably. Meanwhile, contemporary arid lands development programs and anti-desertification efforts have met with little success. As Davis explains, these environments are not governed by the equilibrium ecological dynamics that apply in most other regions. Davis shows that our notion of the arid lands as wastelands derives largely from politically motivated Anglo-European colonial assumptions that these regions had been laid waste by “traditional” uses of the land. Unfortunately, such assumptions still frequently inform policy. Drawing on political ecology and environmental history, Davis traces changes in our understanding of deserts, from the benign views of the classical era to Christian associations of the desert with sinful activities to later (neo)colonial assumptions of destruction. She further explains how our thinking about deserts is problematically related to our conceptions of forests and desiccation. Davis concludes that a new understanding of the arid lands as healthy, natural, but variable ecosystems that do not necessarily need improvement or development will facilitate a more sustainable future for the world's magnificent drylands.
Author: Diana K. Davis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262034522
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 302
Get Book Here
Book Description
An argument that the perception of arid lands as wastelands is politically motivated and that these landscapes are variable, biodiverse ecosystems, whose inhabitants must be empowered. Deserts are commonly imagined as barren, defiled, worthless places, wastelands in need of development. This understanding has fueled extensive anti-desertification efforts—a multimillion-dollar global campaign driven by perceptions of a looming crisis. In this book, Diana Davis argues that estimates of desertification have been significantly exaggerated and that deserts and drylands—which constitute about 41% of the earth's landmass—are actually resilient and biodiverse environments in which a great many indigenous people have long lived sustainably. Meanwhile, contemporary arid lands development programs and anti-desertification efforts have met with little success. As Davis explains, these environments are not governed by the equilibrium ecological dynamics that apply in most other regions. Davis shows that our notion of the arid lands as wastelands derives largely from politically motivated Anglo-European colonial assumptions that these regions had been laid waste by “traditional” uses of the land. Unfortunately, such assumptions still frequently inform policy. Drawing on political ecology and environmental history, Davis traces changes in our understanding of deserts, from the benign views of the classical era to Christian associations of the desert with sinful activities to later (neo)colonial assumptions of destruction. She further explains how our thinking about deserts is problematically related to our conceptions of forests and desiccation. Davis concludes that a new understanding of the arid lands as healthy, natural, but variable ecosystems that do not necessarily need improvement or development will facilitate a more sustainable future for the world's magnificent drylands.
Author: Gilbert F. White
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Arid regions
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Author: Robert Maliva
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 364229104X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1068
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Book Description
A large part of the global population lives in arid lands which have low rainfall and often lack the water required for sustainable population and economic growth. This book presents a comprehensive description of the hydrogeology and hydrologic processes at work in arid lands. It describes the techniques that can be used to assess and manage the water resources of these areas with an emphasis on groundwater resources, including recent advances in hydrologic evaluation and the differences between how aquifer systems behave in arid lands versus more humid areas. Water management techniques are described and summarized to show how a more comprehensive approach to water management is required in these areas, including the need to be aware of cultural sensitivities and conditions unique to many arid regions. The integration of existing resources with the addition of new water sources, such as desalination of brackish water and seawater, along with reusing treated wastewater, will be required to meet future water supply needs. Also, changing climatic conditions will force water management systems to be more robust so that future water supply demands can be met as droughts become more intense and rainfall events become more intense. A range of water management techniques are described and discussed in order to illustrate the methods for integrating these measures within the context of arid lands conditions.
Author: Charles F. Hutchinson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402066899
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 239
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Book Description
The Future of Arid Lands, edited by Gilbert White and published in 1956, comprised papers delivered at the "International Arid Lands Meetings" held in New Mexico in 1955. At these meetings, experts considered the major issues then confronting the world’s arid lands and developed a research agenda to address these issues. This book reexamines this earlier work and explores changes in the science and management of arid lands over the past 50 years within their historical contexts.
Author: Nathan F. Sayre
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022608325X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 282
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Book Description
Steeped in US soil, this first global history of rangeland science looks to the origin of rangeland ecology in the late nineteenth-century American West, exploring the larger political and economic forces that - together with scientific study - produced legacies focused on immediate economic success rather than long-term ecological well-being. Neither scientists nor public agencies could escape the influences of bureaucrats and ranchers who demanded results, and the ideas that became scientific orthodoxy - from fire suppression and predator control to fencing and carrying capacities - contained flaws and blind spots that plague public debates to this day. The Politics of Scale identifies the sources of these conflicts and mistakes and helps us to see a more promising path forward, one in which rangeland science is guided less by capital and the state and more by communities working in collaboration with scientists. -- from back cover.
Author: Scott E. Ingram
Publisher: University of Arizona Press
ISBN: 0816531293
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 391
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Book Description
Traditional Arid Lands Agriculture is the first of its kind. Each chapter considers four questions: what we don’t know about specific aspects of traditional agriculture, why we need to know more, how we can know more, and what research questions can be pursued to know more. What is known is presented to provide context for what is unknown. Traditional agriculture, nonindustrial plant cultivation for human use, is practiced worldwide by millions of smallholder farmers in arid lands. Advancing an understanding of traditional agriculture can improve its practice and contribute to understanding the past. Traditional agriculture has been practiced in the U.S. Southwest and northwest Mexico for at least four thousand years and intensely studied for at least one hundred years. What is not known or well-understood about traditional arid lands agriculture in this region has broad application for research, policy, and agricultural practices in arid lands worldwide. The authors represent the disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, agronomy, art, botany, geomorphology, paleoclimatology, and pedology. This multidisciplinary book will engage students, practitioners, scholars, and any interested in understanding and advancing traditional agriculture.
Author: Jurgen Schmandt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108417035
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 305
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Book Description
Interdisciplinary volume considers how nine arid/semi-arid river basins with irrigated agriculture will survive future climate change, siltation, and decreased flow.
Author: Troy Sternberg
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 3039213474
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 380
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Book Description
Understanding deserts and drylands is essential, as arid landscapes cover >40% of the Earth and are home to two billion people. Today's problematic environment–human interaction needs contemporary knowledge to address dryland complexity. Physical dimensions in arid zones—land systems, climate and hazards, ecology—are linked with social processes that directly impact drylands, such as land management, livelihoods, and development. The challenges require integrated research that identifies systemic drivers across global arid regions. Measurement and monitoring, field investigation, remote sensing, and data analysis are effective tools to investigate natural dynamics. Equally, inquiry into how policy and practice affect landscape sustainability is key to mitigating detrimental activity in deserts. Relations between socio-economic forces and degradation, agro-pastoral rangeland use, drought and disaster and resource extraction reflect land interactions. Contemporary themes of food security, conflict, and conservation are interlinked in arid environments. This book unifies desert science, arid environments, and dryland development. The chapters identify land dynamics, address system risks and delineate human functions through original research in arid zones. Mixed methodologies highlight the vital links between social and environmental science in global deserts. The book engages with today's topical themes and presents novel analyses of arid land systems and societies.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hydrology
Languages : en
Pages : 828
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Book Description
Author: Cathy Lee
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1402069693
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 816
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Book Description
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.
