Book description
Desertification offers a comprehensive overview of the subject and
clearly emphasizes the link between local and global desertification
processes and how past and current policy has affected arid environments
and their populations.
This text adequately applies the research undertaken during the last
15 years on the topic. Desertification has become increasingly
politicized and there is a need to present and explain the facts from
a global perspective. This book tackles the issues surrounding
desertification in a number of ways from differing scales (local to
global), processes (physical to human), the relationship of
desertification to current global development and management responses
at different scales. Desertification has been mainstreamed and
integrated into other areas of concern and has consequently been
ignored as a cross cutting issue. The book redresses this balance.
Making use of much original data and information that has been
undertaken by many scientists andpractitioners during the last decade
in different parts of the world, Desertification, Land Degradation
and Sustainability is organised according to the principles of
adaptive management and hierarchy theory and clearly explains
desertification within a framework of evolving and interacting
physical and socio-economic systems. In addition to research data the
book also draws from the National Action Plans of different countries,
the IPCC Fourth Assessment on Climate Change and the Millennium assessments.
Clearly structured throughout, the content of the book is organised
at different scales; local, regional and global. It also specifically
explains processes linking top-down and bottom- up interactions and
has a strong human component. The historical, cultural and physical
context is also stressed.
Clearly organised into the following distinct sections:
a) Concepts and processes
b) Data
c) Impacts
d) Responses
e) Case studies.
This text is essential for anyone studying desertification as part of
an earth and environmental science degree.
