Environment, People and Development Experiences from Desert Ecosystems
Edited by
Mahesh Kumar Gaur Senior Scientist – Geography Cartography & Land Use Section (Div - I) Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI/ICAR) Jodhpur - 342003, Rajasthan, India
P.C. Moharana Principal Scientist Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI/ICAR) Jodhpur - 342003, Rajasthan, India
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Preface
Desert regions are familiar faces in many pages of history of the world. The earliest civilizations and two of the world’s major religions were born here. Now, deserts are themselves making news. Some of the cultures have made hot deserts their home for thousands of years. Modern technologies, including innovative irrigation systems and agricultural patterns have made deserts much more hospitable now. Despite such improvements, arid zones remain vulnerable to climate change and extremes of climate due to not-so-hospitable climate, poor soil and vegetation. In the wake of global climate changes, the desert ecosystem has again come under scrutiny to become one of the heartthrobs of research. Therefore, desert ecosystems seem to be dwindling between development and degradation. Many of the desert ecosystems like Thar desert in India is well studied by researchers from many parts of the world including its own inhabitants. Information is now available about this region for the rest of the world to explore it more for mankind and its development. There is a radical change in the approach to life by the desert dwellers. Development is now a key word to the desert regions. Water is now available through canals and people have started using scientific approaches to conserve rainwater through improved systems. More information is also available on the state of natural resources, natural hazards and the impact scenario. GIS database is available through satellite remote sensing and thematic maps at different scale for assessing the resources at a given situation like drought and floods. This publication “Environment, People and Development: Experiences from Desert Ecosystems� highlights some of the basic and technologically refined information from many parts of the Desert ecosystems of the world. Thanks to all the contributors for sharing their research experiences. This contribution would certainly open up and increase our understanding about the spatio-variablilty of desert ecosystems of the world. Editor
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Foreword
The year was 2002, the locality was spread out across two countries from Cape Town to Gibeon to Gobabeb, the conference topic involved Connecting Science with Community Action to Combat Desertification, the participants included a very enthusiastic and participatory Dr Mahesh Gaur. I am happy that Dr Gaur had compiled and edited a book entitled ‘Environment, People and Development – Experiences from Desert Ecosystems’. Considering his enquiring mind, this book is not unexpected but nevertheless much appreciated. Considering Dr Gaur’s wide-ranging interests and scientific networks, it is not surprising that this book covers an eclectic selection of topics presented in 21 chapters. The chapter titles themselves offer an intriguing array from rural to urban settings, from Asia and Africa, from geography to development to engineering to remote sensing, from soils to water – and everything in between. The subjects also include a broad variety of approaches ranging from more traditional academic expositions to more personal overviews of the evolution of developmental tactics. There are not many aspects of arid lands that are not touched upon in one way or another. While each chapter is very interesting in itself, almost all of the chapters end up begging questions and asking for more. Many of the chapters are very focused on a theme or a geographical area but leave one wondering if there are not comparative examples or experiences from elsewhere. This compilation thus provides the starting place for future research and scholarly analysis. Many of these chapters provide baselines for future studies when geographic, demographic, political, development or climate conditions have changed significantly. As the globe becomes more integrated, these papers will provide a valuable component of the reference archives covering arid lands. For this assemblage of interesting papers Dr Gaur is to be seriously thanked. Although not specifically in the titles of individual chapters, many of the papers included in this collection include information of wider v
Foreword / vi application than is indicated in the papers themselves. Movement of coastal dunes is well covered in some of the papers while changes in the approach to rural development are covered in others. A chapter on urban planning provides fascinating experience of the evolution and intensification of an unintended heat island. Other chapters provide a close connection between degradation of land and water both addressing negative impacts on the dependent population. Each chapter requires attention to gain the maximum value and overview from the materials that Dr Gaur has assembled. For bringing together this interesting array of papers, Dr Gaur is to be heartily congratulated. Experiences from desert ecosystems are always welcome and this collection will take its places amongst the valuable additions to our knowledge of desert lands. Dr Mary Seely Gobabeb Research and Training Centre Desert Research Foundation of Namibia
A. CLIMATE CHANGE AND DESERTIFICATION
B. RESOURCES, DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT
List of Contributors
Abdelhamid, Ghassan Training Advisor & System Analyst and Advisor at C4 Advanced Solutions, UAE Air Force, Space Reconnaissance Center, P. O. Box. 55260, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Email : trng@falconugs. ae. Abd Elbasit, Mohamed A.M. Arid Land Research Center, Hamasaka 1390, Tottori 680- 0001, Japan; Email : m_abdelbasit@hotmail.com; mbasit@alrc .tottori -u.ac.jp Desertification Research Institute, National Center for Research, Khartoum, Sudan. Aina, Yusuf Adedoyin Geomatics Technologies Department, Yanbu Industrial College, Yanbu. Saudi Arabia. Ali, Rafat Ramadan Soils and Water Use Dept., National Research Centre (NRC), Egypt Ali, Abdelbagi M. Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, Tottori, Japan Biotechnology and Biosafety Research Center, Agricultural Research Cooperation, Shambat, Khartoum, Sudan. Alshehhi, Ali M. Manager Falcon UGS, Space Reconnaissance Center, UAE Air Force & Air Defense, PO Box 51025, Abu Dhabi, UAE Email : alishehhi@falconugs.ae Basheer, Fadul Um Jawaseer Desert Farm Project, ADRA-Sudan Belem, M. CNRST B.P.7047 Ouagadougou Burkina Faso Chinto, Richard Country Coordinator, Zambia ix
List of Contributors / x Dibloni, O. CNRST B.P.7047 Ouagadougou Burkina Faso El Gamri, Tarig Water Resources Dept., Desertification Research Institute The National Centre for Research, Sudan et Frederic Dumay Laboratoire GEGENA. EA3795 University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, Reims, France, 57, rue Pierre Taittinger 51100 cedex. Email : frederic.dumav@univreims.fr Gaur, Mahesh Kumar Associate Professor (Geography), Government Bangur PG College, Pali - 306 401, India Present Address : Senior Scientist (Geography), Central Arid Zone Research Institute (CAZRI / ICAR), Jodhpur – 342 003. India Email : maheshjeegaur@yahoo.com Hameli, Mahash S. Al Director, Space Reconnaissance Centre, UAE Air Force & Air Defense, PO Box 51025, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Email : falcongs@emirates.net.ae Iloweka, Ernest President of FIEF NGO Manganda Executive Committee Member of TerrAfrica Member of Thematic Group N° 13-Environment and Forests Researcher and Scientist Member of the National Coordination Team for Combat Desertification P.O.Box 16 239-Kinshasa-l Democratic Republic of Congo E-mail: mangadaernest@hotmail Kar, Amal Principal Scientist, CAZRI. Jodhpur. INDIA Lioubimtseva, Elena Professor, Geography and Planning Department, Grand Valley State University, Mackinac Hall B-4-202, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI 49401, USA, Email : lioubime@gvsu.edu
List of Contributors / xi Magid, Isam M.A Sudan University for Science and Technology-Faculty of Engineering Mainguet, Monique Directeur, Labortoire de Geographie Zonale pour le Developpement, Institut Universitaire de France 7, rue Pierre, Taittinses 51100 Reims, France Mohamed EL-Bady Geological Science Department, National Research Center Mohamed Sabry Giza, EL-Dokki, EL-Behoose St., Cairo, Egypt Monique Mainguet Laboratory of Zonal Geography for the Development, University of Reims Champagne - Ardenne, Reims, France, 57, rue Pierre Taittinger 51100 cedex. Email: monique.mainguet@univ-reims.fr Mutamba, Emmanuel Zambia, Email : emutamba@yahoo.com Niyogi, Shiladitya Senior Marketing Director and Senior Project Director, with a Southern California firm, and has more than 14 years of experience in IT and Geospatial technologies. Poda, Jean Noel Director of Research Assistant Director of IRSS/CNRST Institut de Recherche en Science de la Sante (IRSS) Centre Nationale pour la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique (CNRST) IRSS / CNRST 03 B.P.7047 Ouagadougou 03, Burkina Faso Email : podajnl@yahoo. fr Raji, Bashiru Ademoal Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.
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