Addressing the global challenges of desertification, land degradation, and drought (DLDD), their impacts on achieving sustainable development goals for coupled human-environmental systems is a key component 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development. In particular, Development Goal (SDG) 15.3 aims to, “by 2030, combat restore degraded soil, including affected by floods, strive to achieve degradation-n...

Continuous desertification of arable lands mandates use of low quality/ saline water for irrigation, especially in regions experiencing water shortage. Using low quality/ saline water for irrigation imposes more stress on plants that are already under stress in these regions. Thus, a logical solution will be to find a salt/ drought-tolerant plant species that will survive/sustain under such str...

Droughts have been occurring persistently in southern African dryland regions for over a century. The impacts of droughts on people, their domesticated animals, wildlife, rangelands and cropped lands have been shown to be astronomical. If left alone the rangelands often recover after the calamity, however human occupation has led to irreversible damage. Even though some communities have evolved...