Land Degradation and Socio-Economic Development


Book Description

This book offers an overview of recent literature on land degradation and its interrelationship with socio-economic development processes in the developing world. It provides an in-depth analysis of land degradation as a physical process, with an emphasis on the local and regional scales. The volume contains a detailed case-study of ravine formation processes in the Chambal valley, a unique but least studied part of the world. Using multi-scale and multi-disciplinary approaches, and combining spatial socio-economic data with remote sensing data, this book provides an in-depth analysis of the causes and implications of land degradation.




Marginality


Book Description

This book takes a new approach on understanding causes of extreme poverty and promising actions to address it. Its focus is on marginality being a root cause of poverty and deprivation. “Marginality” is the position of people on the edge, preventing their access to resources, freedom of choices, and the development of capabilities. The book is research based with original empirical analyses at local, national, and local scales; book contributors are leaders in their fields and have backgrounds in different disciplines. An important message of the book is that economic and ecological approaches and institutional innovations need to be integrated to overcome marginality. The book will be a valuable source for development scholars and students, actors that design public policies, and for social innovators in the private sector and non-governmental organizations.​




Land Degradation and Socio-Economic Development


Book Description

This book offers an overview of recent literature on land degradation and its interrelationship with socio-economic development processes in the developing world. It provides an in-depth analysis of land degradation as a physical process, with an emphasis on the local and regional scales. The volume contains a detailed case-study of ravine formation processes in the Chambal valley, a unique but least studied part of the world. Using multi-scale and multi-disciplinary approaches, and combining spatial socio-economic data with remote sensing data, this book provides an in-depth analysis of the causes and implications of land degradation.




Knowing the Salween River: Resource Politics of a Contested Transboundary River


Book Description

This open access book focuses on the Salween River, shared by China, Myanmar, and Thailand, that is increasingly at the heart of pressing regional development debates. The basin supports the livelihoods of over 10 million people, and within it there is great socio-economic, cultural and political diversity. The basin is witnessing intensifying dynamics of resource extraction, alongside large dam construction, conservation and development intervention, that is unfolding within a complex terrain of local, national and transnational governance. With a focus on the contested politics of water and associated resources in the Salween basin, this book offers a collection of empirical case studies that highlights local knowledge and perspectives. Given the paucity of grounded social science studies in this contested basin, this book provides conceptual insights at the intersection of resource governance, development, and politics of knowledge relevant to researchers, policy-makers and practitioners at a time when rapid change is underway. - Fills a significant knowledge gap on a major river in Southeast Asia, with empirical and conceptual contributions - Inter-disciplinary perspective and by a range of writers, including academics, policy-makers and civil society researchers, the majority from within Southeast Asia - New policy insights on a river at the cross-roads of a major political and development transition




The Root Causes of Biodiversity Loss


Book Description

The world is losing species and biodiversity at an unprecedented rate. The causes go deep and the losses are driven by a complex array of social, economic, political and biological factors at different levels. Immediate causes such as over-harvesting, pollution and habitat change have been well studied, but the socioeconomic factors driving people to degrade their environment are less well understood. This book examines the underlying causes. It provides analyses of a range of case studies from Brazil, Cameroon, China, Danube River Basin, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, Tanzania and Vietnam, and integrates them into a new and interdisciplinary framework for understanding what is happening. From these results, the editors are able to derive policy conclusions and recommendations for operational and institutional approaches to address the root causes and reverse the current trends. It makes a contribution to the understanding of all those - from ecologists and conservationists to economists and policy makers - working on one of the major challenges we face.




The Political Economy of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries


Book Description

First published in 1985. This book examines wide variety of ways in which environmental deterioration, in particular soil erosion, can be viewed and the implicit political judgements that often inform them. Using the context of developing countries, where the effects tend to be more acute due to underdevelopment and climatic factors, this work aims to examine this source of uncertainty and make explicit the underlying assumptions in the debate about soil erosion. It also rejects the notion that soil erosion is a politically neutral issue and argues that conservation requires fundamental social change. This title will be of interest to students of environmental and developmental studies.




The Economics of Land Degradation


Book Description

Land degradation is increasingly considered as a global problem. The extent of degraded and degrading areas adversely impacts on large numbers of people and leads to significant social and economic costs, thus raising the questions: In which way is it worth taking action against land degradation? Where and when should action take place, and what are costs related to certain actions? For policy makers it is important to know the social and economic costs linked to the current and future status of land degradation. A conceptual framework that allows comparing the costs of action against land degradation versus the costs of inaction is provided in this book. The applicability of the framework is illustrated with case studies and prepares the ground for a global assessment on the costs of land degradation.




Economic Theory and Exhaustible Resources


Book Description

A book on the economics of exhaustible resources requires no justification. A long book does. The purist will find disquieting our two-asset, constant population model with which we analyse growth possibilities in an economy with exhaustible resources.




Land Degradation and Society


Book Description

Why does land management so often fail to prevent soil erosion, deforestation, salination and flooding? How serious are these problems, and for whom? This book, first published in 1987, sets out to answer these questions, which are still some of the most crucial issues in development today, using an approach called ‘regional political ecology’. This approach acknowledges that the reason why land management can fail are extremely varied, and must include a thorough understanding of the changing natural resource base itself, the human response to this, and broader changes in society, of which land managers are a part. Land Degradation and Society is essential reading for all students of geography, agriculture, social sciences, development studies and related subjects.




Climate Impacts on Sustainable Natural Resource Management


Book Description

CLIMATE IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABLE NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Climate change has emerged as one of the predominant global concerns of the 21st century. Statistics show that the average surface temperature of the Earth has increased by about 1.18°C since the late 19th century and the sea levels are rising due to the melting of glaciers. Further rise in the global temperature will have dire consequences for the survival of humans on the planet Earth. There is a need to monitor climatic data and associated drivers of changes to develop sustainable planning. The anthropogenic activities that are linked to climate change need scientific evaluation and must be curtailed before it is too late. This book contributes significantly in the field of sustainable natural resource management linked to climate change. Up to date research findings from developing and developed countries like India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and the USA have been presented through selected case studies covering different thematic areas. The book has been organised into six major themes of sustainable natural resource management, determinants of forest productivity, agriculture and climate change, water resource management and riverine health, climate change threat on natural resources, and linkages between natural resources and biotic-abiotic stressors to develop the concept and to present the findings in a way that is useful for a wide range of readers. While the range of applications and innovative techniques is constantly increasing, this book provides a summary of findings to provide the updated information. This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners in the field of environmental sciences, remote sensing, geographical information system, meteorology, sociology and policy studies related to natural resource management and climate change.