Climate Variability Impacts on Land Use and Livelihoods in Drylands

This edited volume is devoted to the examination of the implications of the inevitable changes wrought by global change on the welfare and livelihoods of tens of millions of people who live in dryland regions. Global change is more than just climate change and the ramifications of changing trade patterns (geopolitical and economic aspects), the shift to the market economy, demographic factors (population growth, urbanization and re-settlement), receive attention here. Land use change specialists, policy makers and natural resource management agencies will find the book very useful. Chapters focus on examples that are drawn from a number of sources including previously unpublished studies on the impact of climate change, markets and economics on pastoralist and dryland farming households. The key focus is to provide readers with insights into the real world implications of change (including an analysis of the drivers of change) on these vulnerable groups within dryland societies. The role of humans as agents of these changes is canvassed. A regional analysis of the world's drylands is also performed including those in Australia, Argentina, India, North America, China, North Africa, Central Asia and Southern Africa.   

Table of Contents:
Part 1. Background and Setting.- Chapter 1. Geographic Extent and Characteristics of the World’s Drylands and Their Peoples.- Chapter 2. Recent Trends in Drylands and Future Scope for Advancement.- Chapter 3. Global Change and its Consequences for the World’s Arid Lands.- Part 2. Arid lands under a global change regime.- Chapter 4. Humans as Change Agents in Drylands (With Special Reference to Qinghai- Tibet Plateau).- Chapter 5. Climate Variability and Impact on Livelihoods in the Cold Arid Tibet Plateau.- Chapter 6. Iran’s Arid Zone Watershed Protection Initiative.- Chapter 7. Thar Desert -- Its Land Management, Livelihoods and Prospects in a Global Warming Scenario.- Part 3. Northern Hemisphere Aridlands: Selected Examples.- Chapter 8. Dry Lands of North America – Current Status and Future Prospects.- Chapter 9. Desertification and Land Degradation in Indian Sub Continent: Issues, Present Status and Future Challenges. Chapter 10. China’s Drylands –Problems Prospects.- Chapter 11. Aridlands of North Africa and the Mediterranean Basin – Current Status and Future Prospects.- Part 4. Southern Hemisphere Aridlands: Selected Examples.- Chapter 12. Southern African Drylands -– Current Status and Future Prospects.- Chapter 13. Arid and Semiarid Rangelands of Argentina.- Chapter 14. The Impact of Climate Variability on Land use and Livelihoods in Australia’s Rangelands.- Part 5. Summary, Synthesis and Concluding Remarks.- Chapter 15. Drylands Under a Climate Change Regime: Implications for the Land and the Pastoral People they Support.- Chapter 16. Unifying concepts, synthesis and conclusions.

About the Author :
Dr. Mahesh Gaur is a Senior Scientist at the ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, India. He specializes in aridlands geography and the application of satellite remote sensing, GIS and digital image processing for natural resources mapping, management and assessment. He also researches drought, desertification, land degradation, indigenous knowledge systems, and the socio-economic milieu of the Thar Desert of India. He has worked as an Associate Professor for more than 13 years with the Department of Higher Education, Government of Rajasthan State, India and has also worked at Sandhan, Jaipur, IIM Ahmedabad, IHS Hyderabad and IN-RIMT in various capacities. He has been associated with ICAR, ISRO, SAC, UGC, various Ministries of Government of India, and ICARDA for sponsored studies. He has published two books and is the author of a number of research papers and book chapters that have appeared in national and international research journals. He is a member of a number ofnational and international scientific organizations and editorial boards of journals. He has been awarded the Indian Government Citizen Karamveer Award 2011 by iCONGO for working in the field of Higher Education, Environment and Technology Applications for Community Upliftment, and the Millennium Award for working in the field of Environment. Dr. Victor Squires is a world renowned expert in rangeland ecology. He obtained his PhD in Rangeland Science from Utah State University, USA. He is the former Dean of the Faculty of Natural Resource Management at the University of Adelaide, where he worked for 15 years. He also worked at CSIRO, Australia’s leading research organization, for 22 years.He is the author/editor of 11 books including ‘Livestock Management in the Arid Zone’, ‘Range and Animal Sciences and Resources Management’, ‘Rangeland Stewardship in Central Asia: Balancing Improved Livelihoods’, ‘Biodiversity Conservation and Land Protection’, and Rangeland Ecology,Management and Conservation Benefits’, and has written numerous research papers on aspects of range/livestock relations. Since his retirement from the University of Adelaide, Dr. Squires has worked as a Visiting Fellow in the East West Center, Hawaii, and is currently an Adjunct Professor in the University of Arizona, Tucson USA and at the Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China. He has been a consultant to World Bank, Asian Development and various UN agencies in Africa, China, Central Asia and the Middle East. He was awarded the 2008 International Award and Gold Medal for International Science and Technology Cooperation by the Government of China and in 2011 was awarded the Friendship Award by the government of China. The Gold Medal is the highest award for foreigners. In 2015, Dr. Squires was honored by the Society for Range Management (USA) with an Outstanding Achievement Award.