Desertification in Developed Countries

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-vi

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • David A. Mouat, Charles F. Hutchinson, Beaumont C. McClure

   Pages 1-4

3. Effect Of Mediterranean Shrub on Water Erosion Control

   • V. Andreu, J. L. Rubio, R. Cerní

   Pages 5-15

4. Secondary Desertification Due to Salinization of Intensively Irrigated Lands: The Israeli Experience

   • A. Banin, A. Fish

   Pages 17-37

5. Surface Disturbances: Their Role in Accelerating Desertification

   • Jayne Belnap

   Pages 39-57

6. A Hierarchical Approach for Desertification Assessment

   • Ger Bergkamp

   Pages 59-78

7. Properties and Erosional Response of Soils in a Degraded Ecosystem in Crete (Greece)

   • C. Boix, A. Calvo, A. C. Imeson, J. M. Schoorl, Soriano Soto, I. R. Tiemessen

   Pages 79-92

8. Identification and Observation of Desertification Processes with the Aid of Measurements from Space: Results from the European Field Experiment in Desertification-Threatened Areas (EFEDA)

   • Hans-Jürgen Bolle

   Pages 93-101

9. Where, Why, and to What Extent Have Rangelands in the Karoo, South Africa, Desertified

   • W. R. J. Dean, S. J. Milton, M. A. Du Plessis

   Pages 103-110

10. Desertification Control: A Framework for Action

    • H. E. Dregne

    Pages 111-122

11. Policy Roots of Land Degradation in the Arid Region of the United States: An Overview

    • Karl Hess Jr., Jerry L. Holechek

    Pages 123-141

12. Use of Earth Observation Satellite Data for Land Degradation Mapping and Monitoring in Mediterranean Ecosystems: Towards a Satellite-Observatory

    • J. Hill, S. Sommer, W. Mehl, J. Megier

    Pages 143-158

13. Desertification of the Eastern Karoo, South Africa: Conflicting Paleoecological, Historical, and Soil Isotopic Evidence

    • M. T. Hoffman, W. J. Bond, W. D. Stock

    Pages 159-177

14. Government Policy Influences on Rangeland Conditions in the United States: A Case Example

    • Jerry L. Holechek, Karl Hess Jr.

    Pages 179-187

15. Integrated Response Plot Designs for Indicators of Desertification

    • R. O. Kuehl, R. P. Breckenridge, M. Panda

    Pages 189-209

16. Desertification of Subtropical Thicket in the Eastern Cape, South Africa: Are there Alternatives?

    • Graham I. H. Kerley, Michael H. Knight, Mauritz De Kock

    Pages 211-230

17. Desertification in Australia: An Eye to Grass Roots and Landscapes

    • John A. Ludwig, David J. Tongway

    Pages 231-237

18. Regional Landscape-Ecological Planning and Desertification Control in Arid Regions of the Commonwealth of Independent States

    • E. V. Milanova

    Pages 239-244

19. South Africa’s Arid and Semiarid Rangelands: Why Are They Changing and Can They Be Restored?

    • Suzanne J. Milton, W. Richard J. Dean

    Pages 245-264

20. Impact of Desertification on Temperature Trends in the Middle East

    • Hassan A. Nasrallah, Robert C. Balling Jr

    Pages 265-271

Desertification has re-emerged as a topic of global significance as a consequence of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. When first addressed over a generation ago, attention was drawn to the compelling, spectacular images of sand dunes engulfing farmlands and parched cattle dying around wells. Research tended to focus on these events as unusual phenomena that involved the unfortunate collision of climate and `irrational' land use. Since then, the work of many researchers has shown us that desertification is a multifaceted problem that involves climatic, biogeochemical, political, and socio-economic processes that operate more or less continuously but at rates that vary in time and space. No attempts to arrest or reverse desertification that ignore this complexity are likely to succeed. In a single volume, `Desertification in Developed Countries' describes the multiple dimensions of desertification as well as the novel approaches that have been used to address it within the economies of developed countries. This is done from the perspectives and experiences of the numerous authors who have contributed to this book.

• climate
• development
• ecosystem
• environment
• erosion
• land degradation
• soil
• temperature
• water
• ecotoxicology
• hydrogeology

• National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Corvallis, USA

  David A. Mouat, Charles F. Hutchinson

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