DESERTIFICATION AND ARID LAND. DESERT FARMING, AN OPPORTUNITY ? Youmanitas.NL

North America Desertication and Arid Land in numbers

2009-03-25T23:36:00.000-07:00

North America Desertification and Arid Land overview

2009-03-25T23:35:00.000-07:00

South America Desertification and Arid Land

2009-03-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

Australia Desertification and Arid Land

2009-03-25T23:32:00.000-07:00

Asia Desertification Geo overview

2009-03-25T23:30:00.000-07:00

Spain Desertification and Arid land in numbers

2009-03-25T23:29:00.000-07:00

Spain Desertification

2009-03-25T23:26:00.000-07:00

Dryland Deserts Globally

2009-02-21T10:47:00.000-08:00

Deserts of the World

2009-02-12T10:07:00.000-08:00

Major Deserts of the World
Name	Type of Desert	Surface Area	Location
Antarctic	Polar	5.5 million mi²	Antarctica
Arctic	Polar	5.4 million mi²	Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia
Sahara (map)	Subtropical	3.5 million mi²	Northern Africa
Arabian (map)	Subtropical	1 million mi²	Arabian Peninsula
Gobi	Cold Winter	500,000 mi²	China and Mongolia
Patagonian (map)	Cold Winter	260,000 mi²	Argentina
Great Victoria	Subtropical	250,000 mi²	Australia
Kalahari (map)	Subtropical	220,000 mi²	South Africa, Botswana, Namibia
Great Basin (map)	Cold Winter	190,000 mi²	United States
Thar (map)	Subtropical	175,000 mi²	India, Pakistan
Chihuahuan (map)	Subtropical	175,000 mi²	Mexico
Great Sandy (map)	Subtropical	150,000 mi²	Australia
Kara-Kum (map)	Cold Winter	135,000 mi²	Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan
Colorado Plateau	Cold Winter	130,000 mi²	United States
Gibson	Subtropical	120,000 mi²	Australia
Sonoran (map)	Subtropical	120,000 mi²	United States, Mexico
Kyzyl-Kum	Cold Winter	115,000 mi²	Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan
Taklamakan (map)	Cold Winter	105,000 mi²	China
Iranian	Cold Winter	100,000 mi²	Iran
Simpson (map)	Subtropical	56,000 mi²	Australia
Mojave (map)	Subtropical	54,000 mi²	United States
Atacama (map)	Cool Coastal	54,000 mi²	Chile
Namib (map)	Cool Coastal	13,000 mi²	Angola, Namibia, South Africa

NOAA Economics of Drought Data and Products

2009-02-06T00:25:00.000-08:00

Topic Overview (Summary of NOAA data & products related to Drought)
Filter by RegionNOAA Regions Map:

Few extreme events are as economically and ecologically disruptive as drought. Severe drought conditions can profoundly impact agriculture, water resources, tourism, ecosystems, and basic human welfare. Specifically, the economic impact of drought in the United States has been estimated to be $6-8 billion annually (FEMA, 1995). Drought may become a more common issue in the future, as suggested by NOAA climate data showing an increase in anomalously warm U.S. and global temperatures since the mid-1990s. Climate models have also suggested that the likelihood of heat waves may progressively increase in intensity and frequency over the next several decades, strengthening the environmental conditions for drought and wild fire events.

Planning for future drought events and their impact on society is a responsibility that must be a coordinated effort at the local, state and nation levels of government. Reports have concluded that government efforts to mitigate drought impacts, particularly during prolonged and damaging drought events, have generally been ineffective in the timing, coordination, and allocation of resources to manage an efficient response.

The planning and response coordination for drought events is made more difficult because drought can be surprisingly difficult to monitor due to its nonlinear impacts on ecological systems (e.g. lag effects in severity). However, NOAA is leading an initiative to develop the National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) Portal, which will improve drought-related information across the United States. The NIDIS portal represents a comprehensive drought information system and is a strong national investment in drought preparation. This system should generate numerous economic benefits for many economic sectors that are susceptible to drought events.

Soil Scientist Develops 10 Principles to Sustainable Soil Management

2009-02-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

Ohio Ag Connection - 02/02/2009

From food security to climate change to energy demands, the world faces a myriad of critical sustainability issues, all whose potential solution may lie in the soil.

Rattan Lal, Ohio State University soil scientist with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, suggests that soil and its resources are the answer, and sustainability can be achieved through the realization of 10 basic management principles.

"We are dealing with 10 global issues at the moment: food security, availability of water, climate change, energy demand, waste disposal, extinction of biodiversity, soil degradation and desertification, political and ethnic instability, poverty and rapid population increase," said Lal, with the School of Environment and Natural Resources. "The solution to all of these lies in soil management.

"It doesn't mean that agriculture is the only solution, but it plays a major role in addressing these issues."

Lal synthesized years of scientific literature on soil degradation and the positive impacts of restoration and developed 10 basic principles of sustainable soil management. The principles, published in the January/February 2009 issue of Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, as well as the journal Agronomy for Sustainable Development, are meant to encourage policymakers to support soil amendment practices.

"I'd like to see policymakers implement policies which will encourage the adoption of such practices as conservation agriculture, integrated nutrient management, crop rotation and agroforestry -- techniques that the scientific community knows would sustain soils and agricultural practices," he said.

Lal's principles of sustainable soil management are:

1. Soil degradation is a biophysical process, but driven by social, economic and political forces. Minimizing degradation and enhancing restoration depends on addressing the human dimensions that drive land misuse.

2. When people are suffering from poverty, they pass that suffering on to the land. The stewardship concept is important only when the basic needs are adequately met.

3. You cannot take more out of the soil than what you put in it without degrading its quality. Outputs must balance inputs, Lal said.

4. Marginal soils cultivated with marginal inputs produce marginal yields and support marginal living.

5. Plants cannot differentiate between organic and inorganic inputs; therefore, it's a matter of logistics in making nutrients available in sufficient quantity, in the appropriate form, and at the right time for optimum growth and yields.

6. Mining carbon has the same effect on global warming, whether it is through extractive farming (tillage) or through the burning of fossil fuels.

7. Soils can be a source of carbon extraction or a sink for carbon storage, depending on how the soil is managed. If used as a sink, the soil has the capacity to store three gigatons of carbon a year, translating into a reduction of 50 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the next five decades.

8. Even the most elite crop varieties developed through biotechnology and genetic engineering cannot extract water and nutrients from the soil where they do not exist. "This principle is very important. There are those who argue that genetically engineered varieties will solve production problems. Not necessarily true," said Lal. "Improvements can only be realized if crops are grown on well-managed soils."

9. Improved soil management is the engine of economic development in rural communities, especially in developing countries.

10. Traditional knowledge and modern innovations go hand in hand. One cannot solve current global issues without the other. "We can develop upon traditional knowledge, but those who ignore modern innovations must be prepared to endure more sufferings," he said.

Lal said he developed the soil management principles to draw attention to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals -- a commitment to solve and/or improve upon eight global issues by 2015. The issues include poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability and global partnerships.

"The UN defined these goals in 2000 and now we know that none of these goals will be met by 2015. Why? Because soil and agricultural management are not being addressed," Lal explained. "If we do not address these issues now by paying more attention to how we can sustain the soil, then 20 years from now we will be talking about the very same things."

Hohenheim University

2009-01-20T01:03:00.000-08:00

Wasteland. Hohenheim University (Germany) A Concept For Simultaneous Wasteland Reclamation Fuel Production And Socio Economic Development in Degraded Areas in India 2007

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