This synthesis and assess ment report builds on an extensive scientific literature and series of recent assessments of the historical and potential impacts of climate change and climate variability on managed and unmanaged ecosystems and their constituent biota and processes. It identifies changes in resource conditions that are now being observed and examines whether these changes can be attri...

Abstract Desertification is one of the fundamental problems that threaten many arid and semi-arid areas. The formulation of the United Nation Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), adopted in Paris, 1994 and ratified in 1996, with the active participation of Egypt, gave emphasis on combating the major threats to sustainability of dry lands. Recently, different models were developed to fo...

Introduction Pastoralists who inhabit the African arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) are among the world’s poorest populations. They lack vital infrastructure in the form of accessible roads, electricity and telecommunications, leaving them increasingly isolated. Livestock holdings of cattle, camels, goats and sheep often comprise the bulk of their limited wealth and are an integral part of their ...

Afforestation of agricultural lands has been one of the major land use changes in China in recent decades. To better understand the effect of such land use change on soil quality, we investigated selected soil physical, chemical and microbial properties (0-15 cm depth) in marginal agricultural land and a chronosequence of poplar (Populus euramericana cv. 'N3016') plantations (5-, 10-, 15- and 2...

Although, it is occupying quantitavely a marginal place among the domestic herbivorous (0.4% only of the world domestic herbivorous), the large camelids (dromedary and Bactrian) are present in almost all the arid lands of the old world (except in Southern Africa), being wide spreading over 35 million km2. They are overall remarkable valorizators of these spaces by their productive potential and...

Drought and salt stress, together with low temperature, are major problems for agriculture because these adverse environmental factors prevent plants from realizing their full genetic potential. Salt stress afflicts agriculture in many parts of the world, particularly irrigated lands [4]. Compared to salt stress, the problem of drought is even more pervasive and economically damaging [1; 3]. Te...

Arid and semi-arid lands constitute a large proportion of available agricultural and rangeland in the world. These lands are characterised by low and unreliable rainfall, low land productivity, and low socioeconomic status of the inhabitants. Livestock plays a very significant role in their economies. Leguminous trees and shrubs, which dominate the natural rangelands, are often higher in crude ...

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...