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

Resettlement Migration: A Case Study in Dulan Tibetan and Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai Province, Western China

Western China is an area which has experienced some of the most serious natural disasters in the world, as it is frequently hit by abnormal and widespread environmental disasters, which has led to increased poverty among its population. This research examines the relationship between environmental deterioration, poverty and resettlement migration. The study focuses on the region of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in western China which is inhabited by one of the largest minority cultures in China, specifically the Tibetans. These minorities tend to live in regions that are typical areas of ecological degradation and economic backwardness. Resettlement migration has been one of the adaptation mechanisms instigated by government to combat environmental degradation and reduce poverty. Two case studies were selected in Qinghai Province, Ledu County as an out-migration area and Dulan County as an in-migration area. A mixed methods approach was used which employed a survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews. Data provided by local government in relation to resettlement migration in both areas of origin and destination, were invaluable to establish the role and function of Government. In the Qinghai migration area, the survey found that migrants move out of their former place of residence due to poor natural environments and favourable policy conditions. The survey identified some outstanding problems among the migrants, including their changed livelihood and incomes after migration, cultural changes and the adaptation of minorities in the migration process. The economic situation of migrants changed significantly after migration, indicating that the economic recovery of migrant families was largely influenced by their social and economic characteristics. In some settings it was found that the lives of migrants were still impoverished after migration and that many of them failed to adapt to new technologies associated with changed agricultural pursuits. However, overall, this research found that the resettlement migration project in Qinghai province was a good solution to improve the lives of poor rural populations and to promote environmental recovery. Finally, the study proposes possible risk aversion approaches and relevant policies in relation to government subsidies and compensation.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences, 202

People, Institutions, and Pixels: Linking Remote Sensing and Social Science to Understand Social Adaptation to Environmental Change.

This research presents an interdisciplinary approach, which links theories from grassland ecology and institutional economics and methods from remote sensing, field ecological measurements, household survey, statistical modeling, and agent-based computational modeling, to study the dynamics of grassland social-ecological systems on the Mongolian plateau, including Mongolia and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, and social adaptation to climate change and ecosystem degradation. A range of research questions in the fields of remote sensing of vegetation, drivers and mechanisms of resource dynamics, and societal adaptation to environmental change were addressed at regional and local scales. Using a remote sensing based light-use efficiency model, I estimated annual grassland net primary productivity on the Mongolian plateau over the past three decades and analyzed the spatial-temporal dynamics of annual grassland net primary productivity in response to climate variability and change. In order to account for the insufficiency of using multispectral images to map grassland communities and monitor grassland dynamics, especially grassland degradation, I analyzed the potential for using hyperspectral remote sensing to detect the quantity and quality of dominant grassland communities across ecological gradients of the Inner Mongolian grasslands, based on field data collected across a large geographic area. The dynamics of grassland productivity on the Mongolian plateau over the past decades was interpreted both qualitatively and quantitatively. I used spatial panel data models to identify the biophysical and socioeconomic factors driving the interannual dynamics of grassland net primary productivity across agro-ecological zones on the Mongolian plateau over the past three decades. Social adaptations to climate change and grassland degradation on the Mongolian plateau was studied at both household and community levels. A household survey was designed and implemented across ecological gradients of Mongolia (210 households) and Inner Mongolia, China (540 households), to study livelihood adaptation practices of herders to environmental change. Informed by the empirical studies, I built an agent-based computational model to explore social-ecological outcomes of pasture use under alternative institutional (i.e., grazing sedentarization, pasture rental markets, and reciprocal use of pastures) and climatic (i.e., frequencies of climate hazards) scenarios.PHDNatural Resources and EnvironmentUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/97961/1/junw_1.pd

Impacts of Climate Conditions and Adaptations on Agricultural Output and Household Income in Inner Mongolia, China

Climate change has imposed significant challenges on global dryland systems. In this dissertation, Inner Mongolia, a typical dryland system in the world’s largest developing county, China, was selected as an example to study the relationships between rural agricultural production/income generation, climate factors and adaptive activities in the dryland system. Two respective multiple regression models on grain and livestock production were built with secondary panel data in Inner Mongolia from 2000 to 2008. The research results indicate that temperature and precipitation changes, technical assistance, agricultural diversification and highway density had significant impacts on local agricultural production, though the significance level and direction of the impacts of these variables differed between grain production and livestock production. For adaptation strategies, while the grain production sector might have to act against both the higher temperature and decreased precipitation, the livestock production sector could mainly focus on adapting to the drier weather. But adaptive activities such as irrigation infrastructure building, adoption of water saving technologies, and improvement of technical personnel would serve both the sectors well through increased adaptive capacity. A multinomial logistic regression model on rural household income was also built with primary survey data collected in 2010 in Xilin Gol, a typical rural setting in Inner Mongolia. The research results also indicated that land degradation hurt the poorest household groups most and that conservation programs benefited the same groups the most significantly with respect to household income. In addition, diversification of income sources contribute significantly to the income increase of the poorest and middle-level income level households, market access contribute significantly to the income increase of all but the highest two income level households, and high-value agriculture significantly contributed to income increase for the farmer households. Therefore, land conservation programs, high-value agriculture, diversification of income sources, and market access should be given top priorities in policy making in order to increase rural income

Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation: Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

This Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX) has been jointly coordinated by Working Groups I (WGI) and II (WGII) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report focuses on the relationship between climate change and extreme weather and climate events, the impacts of such events, and the strategies to manage the associated risks. The IPCC was jointly established in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), in particular to assess in a comprehensive, objective, and transparent manner all the relevant scientific, technical, and socioeconomic information to contribute in understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change, the potential impacts, and the adaptation and mitigation options. Beginning in 1990, the IPCC has produced a series of Assessment Reports, Special Reports, Technical Papers, methodologies, and other key documents which have since become the standard references for policymakers and scientists.This Special Report, in particular, contributes to frame the challenge of dealing with extreme weather and climate events as an issue in decisionmaking under uncertainty, analyzing response in the context of risk management. The report consists of nine chapters, covering risk management; observed and projected changes in extreme weather and climate events; exposure and vulnerability to as well as losses resulting from such events; adaptation options from the local to the international scale; the role of sustainable development in modulating risks; and insights from specific case studies

What do we know about multidimensional poverty in China: its dynamics, causes, and implications for sustainability

Poverty is a primary obstacle to achieving sustainable development. Therefore, exploring the spatiotemporal dynamics and causes of poverty is of great significance to the sustainable poverty reduction of the “post poverty alleviation era” in China. This paper used the multisource big data of 2022 counties in China from 2000 to 2015 to establish a comprehensive evaluation framework to explore the multidimensional poverty situation in China. The results showed the following findings: There is an obvious spatiotemporal heterogeneity of multidimensional poverty, showing a typical stair-like gradient from high in the west to low in the east, with the poverty level in state-designated poverty counties higher and intensifying over time. The spatial differentiation of multidimensional poverty is contributed to by multiple factors, in which the geographical condition has a stronger impact on state-designated poverty counties, while natural endowment and human resources have a stronger effect on non-state-designated poverty counties. These things considered, the regional poverty causes were relatively stable before 2015, but the poverty spatial agglomeration of some regions in the Northwest, Northeast, and Yangtze River Economic Belt has undergone significant changes after 2015. These findings can help policymakers better target plans to eliminate various types of poverty in different regions

Ecosystem services, sustainable rural development and protected áreas

Enhancing social and economic development while preserving nature is one of the major challenges for humankind in the current century. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment showed an alarming degradation of ecosystems and exacerbated poverty for many groups of people across the world due to unprecedented changes in ecosystems caused by human activities in the 20th century. Sustainable Rural Development is key to maintaining active local communities in rural and semi-natural areas, avoiding depopulation, and preserving high-ecological-value sites, including protected areas. Establishing protected areas is the most common strategy to preserve biodiversity around the world with the advantage of promoting the supply of ecosystem services. However, depending how it affects economic opportunities and the access to natural resources, it can either attract or repel human settlements. The convergence of development and conservation requires decision-making processes capable of aligning the needs and expectations of rural communities and the goals of biodiversity conservation. The articles compiled in this Special Issue (nine research papers and two review papers) make important contributions to this challenge from different approaches, disciplines and regions in the world.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio