Small−holder farming in semi−arid areas is being forced to change to compensate for the needs of more people living under conditions of increasingly variable rainfall. As more land is used for agriculture, rangeland areas are reduced, so limiting the availability of animal fodder. The length of fallow periods where soil fertility may be restored is also reduced. This has forced herders and farm...

A new disturbance automated reference toolset (DART) was developed to monitor human land surface impacts using soil-type and ecological context. DART identifies reference areas with similar soils, topography, and geology; and compares the disturbance condition to the reference area condition using a quantile-based approach based on a satellite vegetation index. DART was able to represent 26-55%...

There are more than 750 counties in 13 provinces and autonomous regionsconstituting 30% of China lands which are facing serious problem of desertification. Theseareas are mainly distributed in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas in the western part ofNortheast China, North central china and most of northwest china. Biological methods are theultimate way for drift sand stabilization and a fu...

Thar region of Rajasthan, with its varied characteristics in culture, economies, the environment, governance and religion, is home to semi-urban and urban agriculture that seems to have originated in the Fertile Crescent of the homeland of the first farmers. Arid lands and deserts make up a large part of Rajasthan. Two-thirds of the state is desert or dry-lands. Half the state’s population is f...

Water supply of green spaces in arid areas is a major challenge. A high percentage of green spacescreate lawns, which are high water consumer landscapes. Due to the environmental, recreational andathletic values of lawns, they are considered as non-removable elements in urban green space development.This paper reviews and discusses strategies for efficient water usage in lawn areas using librar...

One of the ordinary methods to protect, rehabilitate, and enhance an ecosystemfunction in arid and semi-arid areas of the world is sand dune stabilization using biologicalpractices. Plantation of species on the soil plays a great role in sustainable management ofthe ecosystem. This research studies the effects of cultivation of Haloxylon ammodendronand Atriplex canescens on physical-chemical ch...