Sustainable Land Management


Book Description

Land is the integrating component of all livelihoods depending on farm, forest, rangeland, or water (rivers, lakes, coastal marine) habitats. Due to varying political, social, and economic factors, the heavy use of natural resources to supply a rapidly growing global population and economy has resulted in the unintended mismanagement and degradation of land and ecosystems. 'Sustainable Land Management' provides strategic focus to the implementation of sustainable land management (SLM) components of the World Bank's development strategies. SLM is a knowledge-based procedure that integrates land, water, biodiversity, and environmental management to meet rising food and fiber demands while sustaining livelihoods and the environment. This book, aimed at policy makers, project managers, and development organization, articulates priorities for investment in SLM and natural resource management and identifies the policy, institutional, and incentive reform options that will accelerate the adoption of SLM productivity improvements and pro-poor growth.










Sustainability and Degradation in Less Developed Countries


Book Description

This title was first published in 2002. The concept of sustainable development has increasingly gained currency as a policy determination tool, yet its interpretation and application is widely contested, especially with respect to the role of economics in the facilitation of environmentally and socially sustainable outcomes. Sarah Lumley assesses some of the fundamental assumptions of mainstream economic theory as part of an analysis of farmers' motives in adopting soil conservation on degraded lands in the Philippines. The text has a strong focus on the theoretical and practical interactions between environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development; it is both multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary, and draws on conceptually important points of each discipline that it encompasses.




New Concepts and Approaches to Land Management in the Tropics with Emphasis on Steeplands


Book Description

In the tropics most of the steepland areas are settled by small-scale farming families where livelihoods may be endangered by land degradation and associated loss of productivity. This bulletin brings concepts and principles of good land husbandry into focus.







Soil Survey


Book Description




Sustainable Land Management in Greater Central Asia


Book Description

Greater Central Asia encompasses a vast area that includes deserts, natural grasslands, steppes, shrublands and alpine regions. Many of these land types are degraded and productivity is falling at a time when human populations and livestock inventories are on the rise. Ecosystem stability and biodiversity are under threat and there is an urgent need to develop more sustainable land management regimes. This book uses an integrated regional approach to provide a comprehensive exploration of sustainable land development in Central Asia. An interdisciplinary team of experts analyses the economic, ecological, sociological, technological and political factors surrounding sustainable land and water management in the region, sharing potential problems and solutions. As international concern about desertification grows, the book concludes by asking how the region is likely to develop in the future. This book will be of value to scholars, students, policy makers and NGOs with an interest in sustainable development in Central Asia.




Phytobiomes: Current Insights and Future Vistas


Book Description

To satisfy the food demands of the global population, advanced technology based research is needed, that can extract the information from the plant metabolism and microbial gene pool and use it for improving plant health and productivity. Modern biotechnological tools have the ability to unlock the limitations of agricultural practices. However, the application of these tools is not well equipped. Moreover, eco-friendly agriculture by microbial inoculants is known to have positive influences on soil/plant health. Therefore it is relevant to explore the plant associated microbial niches, especially endophytes, epiphytes, and soil microbes and understand how they are benefitting each other. It can open new insights to develop sustainable agriculture practices by using consortia of microbes as plant helpers that recover the imbalanced agriculture systems and manage pathogenic diseases. This book presents the updates about the plant associated microbiomes and their contemporary uses. It covers the knowledge gap between soil and plant helper microbiomes and their application in the agriculture and allied sectors. Modern insights of phytobiomes are explored in various chapters on a variety of interrelated aspects of the fascinating areas like plant microbial interaction, integrated pest management, soil fertility intensification, sustainable crop production, and disease management. Sections in the book describe how to plant beneficial microbiomes have been utilized for sustainable green farming, with the aim to resolve the global food problem without harming the soil and environment health. This book is intended for everyone who is involved in agriculture, microbial biotechnology, bioinformatics, and all disciplines related to microbial biotechnology. These include academic students, scientists, and researchers at universities, institutes, industries, and government organizations who want to understand microbial linkages in a shorter time. It contains basic information that will be help to the non-specialist readers to understand progressive research.




Land-Use and Land-Cover Change


Book Description

This book presents recent estimates on the rate of change of major land classes. Aggregated globally, multiple impacts of local land changes are shown to significantly affect central aspects of Earth System functioning. The book offers innovative developments and applications in the fields of modeling and scenario construction. Conclusions are also drawn about the most pressing implications for the design of appropriate intervention policies.