World Desertification Cause And Effect

The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 has identified four priority areas for Disaster Risk Reduction: understanding disaster risk; strengthening disaster risk governance to manage disaster risk; investing in disaster risk reduction for resilience and enhancing disaster preparedness for effective response; and to "Build Back Better" in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. Although tremendous progress has been made in recent decades in understanding the workings of the Earth systems and, in particular, its impacts on and responses to human actions, there remains a continuing and pressing need for knowledge that will allow society to simultaneously reduce exposure to global environmental hazards, while also meeting economic development goals. Exploring Natural Hazards: A Case Study Approach, contributes to the knowledge showcasing advanced practices for the monitoring of natural hazards. Through each case study, the book examines mainly hazards arising from processes within the hydrosphere and atmosphere, triggered or exacerbated by inputs to and transfers of energy between environmental components. It discusses the causes of these phenomena, and ways in which improved policy making, sometimes coupled with the application of appropriate modern technologies, can help to reduce people’s exposure to harm. Discussing challenges, lessons learned and recommendations, this book provides a snapshot of issues related to tropical cyclones and typhoons, desertification, floods, lightning as a hazard and the need for alert systems. It is a valuable resource for practitioners and professionals alike, for researchers, students and others who work at the intersection between environmental hazards, sustainable development and social justice.

The United Nations Water Conference (in Argentina in March 1977) and the United Nations Conference to Combat Desertification (in Kenya in August 1977) reflect the worldwide attention that recent global food shortages and growing populations have drawn to the destruction of arable and potentially arable land. This collection of articles focuses on a primary form of such destruction: desertification—the creation of desert-like conditions in arid or semiarid regions either by changes in climate patterns or by human mismanagement, or both. The contributors—representing a range of disciplines—examine and evaluate the social, political, economic, environmental, and technical problems related to the causes and effects of desertification.

A synthesis of the environmental and climatic history of every major desert and desert margin, for researchers and advanced students.

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.

Amongst the first in the new Springer-Praxis Earth System Science Series ‘Desertification: The Interplay of Science, Politics and Public Opinion’ describes how the process of desertification, a man-induced process that leads to soil nutrient depletion and reduction of biological productivity has heavily affected Sahelian droughts. The team of global experts takes our current understanding of desertification to a far broader level covering wider environmental science and public policy issues. This innovative new book attempts to distinguish between desertification hysteria and the considerable real threat that the process poses to many semi-arid landscapes and to those who inhabit them with particular focus on current scientific understandings of the mechanisms that drive desertification and reviews of the regional, continental and world-wide evidence for desertification. The book is structured into six core parts. The first part by Roy Behnke sets the scene and explains the event and related problems. The team explains how spheres and events interact and the related problems. Part 2 by Camilla Toulmin examines the evolution in thinking & ideas about desertification, the confrontation of new data & field experience with policy and legal frameworks set within the context of rising concerns about climate change. Part 3, written by Alessandra Giannini explores the scientific causes of desertification. He explores sea surface temperatures, albido and climate forecasts for the Sahel and the significant impact of climate change on desertification. Part 4 discusses regional and international implications, with David Thomas revealing the extent and causes of desertification in drylands outside the Sahel. In particular he explores desertification in the Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa, the former Soviet Union, China, Australia and the US, and there‘s a further section on global databases on desertification. Michael Mortimer delivers a fresh review of drought adaptation and shows how it will be conducted in order to separate the myths from reality, identifying both the scope and the limitations of adaptive capacity in managing the economic and environmental impacts of drought. In the final section of the book, Mark Stafford Smith reveals some key lessons and helps us make sense of the history of Sahelian desertification, desertification science and policy making, and how to avoid future mistakes and the challenges that lie ahead.

Desertification affects 70 per cent of the world's arable lands in more than 100 countries. Inextricably linked to poverty, it is estimated that the livelihood of 250 million people are directly affected while another billion living in rural drylands are threatened by this phenomenon. This volume examines the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) signed in 1994. It studies the links between land degradation and poverty, the role of civil society and good governance in implementing the UNCCD and the various approaches to fighting desertification. Furthermore, it assesses the National Action Programmes, development planning and new avenues for strengthening implementation. Synthesizing the main strengths and weaknesses of the UNCCD as a tool for environmental and developmental governance, this informative volume highlights the main challenges facing the UNCCD in the future.