Deserts and Desertification

A desert is an ecosystem in an arid zone in which sand dunes cover the land and sandstorms often occur. Although desert vegetation is sparse, it plays an important role in ecosystem structure and function. Desertification is one of the most severe environmental problems today. Land desertification can be controlled through many measures, such as eco-villages, eco-agriculture, biodiversity conservation, and the combination of engineering and biology. This edited volume provides new insights into the pattern of desert ecosystems and the progress of desertification control. It is a useful resource for researchers in ecology, forestry, and land desertification control

Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Western China

Western Development is an important strategy of China Government. The ecological environment in the western region of China is very fragile, and any improper human activity or resource utilization will lead to irrecoverable ecological degradation. Therefore, the integrated ecosystem assessment in the western region of China is of great significance to the Western Development Strategy. This project, Integrated Ecosystem Assessment of Western China (MAWEC), will provide very important scientific foundations for both the central and local governments to make decisions on ecological construction, thus assuring the successful implementation of the Western Development Strategy. Meanwhile, MAWEC as one of the MA sub-global assessments is contributing to strengthen capability in boosting the development of the ecological science, interaction between different subjects, and combination between scientific research and practice, and pushing forward international cooperation in the relevant fields

Desertification

IPCC SPECIAL REPORT ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND LAND (SRCCL) Chapter 3: Climate Change and Land: An IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystem

Sustainable Use of Soils and Water: The Role of Environmental Land Use Conflicts

This book on the sustainable use of soils and water addressed a variety of issues related to the utopian desire for environmental sustainability and the deviations from this scene observed in the real world. Competing interests for land are frequently a factor in land degradation, especially where the adopted land uses do not conform with the land capability (the natural use of soil). The concerns of researchers about these matters are presented in the articles comprising this Special Issue book. Various approaches were used to assess the (im)balance between economic profit and environmental conservation in various regions, in addition to potential routes to bring landscapes back to a sustainable status being disclosed

Effect of Land Use/Cover Changes on Ecological Landscapes of the Four Lakes of Central Rift Valley Ethiopia

The objective of this study was to analyze land use land cover (LULC) changes in the landscape of Central Rift Valley over a period of 30 years (1985–2015). Satellite images of Landsat5 TM (1985), (1995) and Landsat8 OLI (2015) were used. All images were classified using supervised classification technique with ERDAS-13. Change analysis was carried out using post classification comparison in GIS-10.3.1. Twelve LULCCs were successfully captured and the classification result revealed that intensive cultivated land (44.52%), mixed cultivation (18.31%), and woodlands (11.13%), open water (7.99%), large scale farming (7.50%) was dominant LULC types in 1985. In 2015, mixed cultivation (35.90%), large scale farming (14.87%), intensive cultivation (13.99%), open woodland (8.37%) and irrigated land (6.94 %) were the major LULC types followed by others. The change result shows that a rapid increase in irrigable land, large scale farming, and mixed cultivation 8.37%, 14.87%, and 35.90 % occurred between the 1985 and 2015 study period, respectively. Similarly, open water/lake decreased by 2.31%, during the 1985 and 2015 study periods. More specifically, Lake Abijata showed a progressive decline by 25.6%. Analysis of the 30-year change revealed that about 80.79% of the land showed major changes in LULC. Based on the DPSIR framework of analysis, an integrated land use and development planning and policy reform are suggested to encourage the ongoing and planned ecosystem restoration, degraded land rehabilitation, and biodiversity conservation intervention in the Ethiopia Central Rift Valley areas. However, further detailed investigation may be need prior to any recommendation to address the drivers and consequences of land use and land cover changes in the area. Keywords: CRV, ERDAS, GIS; Image; Landsat TM /Oli, Lake, LULC, R

Advances in Ecohydrology for Water Resources Optimization in Arid and Semi-arid Areas

This Special Issue (SI) aims to investigate the relationships between hydrological and ecological processes and how these interactions can contribute to the optimization of water resources in arid and semi-arid areas. This SI collected 10 original contributions on sustainable land management and the optimization of water resources in fragile environments that are at elevated risk due to climate change. The topics mainly concern transpiration, evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge, deep percolation, and related issues. The collection of manuscripts presented in this SI represents a contribution of knowledge in ecohydrology

Sustainability in China: Bridging Global Knowledge with Local Action

China’s road to sustainability has attracted global attention. Since the “Reform & Opening Up” policy, China’s rapid pace of both urbanization and industrialization has made its being the second largest economy but meantime a heavy environmental price has been paid over the past few decades for addressing the economic developmental target. Today, as the biggest developing country, China needs to take more responsibilities for constructing its local ecological-civilization society as well as for addressing the global challenges such as climate change, resources scary and human beings well-fare; therefore, we need to have deeper understandings into China’s way to sustainability at very different levels, both spatially and structurally, concerns ranging from generating sustainable household livelihoods to global climate change, from developing technological applications to generate institutional changes. In this spirit, this publication, “Sustainability in China: Bridging Global Knowledge with Local Action” aims to investigate the intended and spontaneous issues concerning China’s road to sustainability in a combined top-down and bottom-up manner, linking international knowledge to local-based studies

Assessing the relationship between the soil dielectric constant and electrical conductivity using 5TE sensors in the field conditions

Postprint (published version