LEADER 04906nam 22007695 450 001 9910254135803321 005 20200704191131.0 010 $a3-642-16014-X 024 7 $a10.1007/978-3-642-16014-1 035 $a(CKB)3710000000645557 035 $a(EBL)4504833 035 $a(SSID)ssj0001665788 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)16454448 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0001665788 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)15000867 035 $a(PQKB)10481917 035 $a(DE-He213)978-3-642-16014-1 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC4504833 035 $a(PPN)193441993 035 $a(EXLCZ)993710000000645557 100 $a20160412d2016 u| 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 14$aThe End of Desertification? $eDisputing Environmental Change in the Drylands /$fedited by Roy H. Behnke, Michael Mortimore 205 $a1st ed. 2016. 210 1$aBerlin, Heidelberg :$cSpringer Berlin Heidelberg :$cImprint: Springer,$d2016. 215 $a1 online resource (556 p.) 225 1 $aSpringer Earth System Sciences,$x2197-9596 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 $a3-642-16013-1 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references at the end of each chapters. 327 $aPart 1. Foreword: The Great Sahelian Desertification Boondoggle -- Part 2. Social and political consequences of the Sahelian droughts -- Part 3. Scientific causes of the Sahelian droughts -- Part 4. A global assessment of desertification -- Part 5. The capacity to adapt -- Part 6. Lessons learnt. 330 $aThe question in the title of this book draws attention to the shortcomings of a concept that has become a political tool of global importance even as the scientific basis for its use grows weaker. The concept of desertification, it can be argued, has ceased to be analytically useful and distorts our understanding of social-environmental systems and their resiliency, particularly in poor countries with variable rainfall and persistent poverty. For better policy and governance, we need to reconsider the scientific justification for international attempts to combat desertification. Our exploration of these issues begins in the Sahel of West Africa, where a series of severe droughts at the end of the 20th century led to the global institutionalization of the idea of desertification. It now seems incontrovertible that these droughts were not caused primarily by local land use mismanagement, effectively terminating a long-standing policy and scientific debate. There is now an opportunity to treat this episode as an object lesson in the relationship between science, the formation of public opinion and international policy-making. Looking beyond the Sahel, the chapters in this book provide case studies from around the world that examine the use and relevance of the desertification concept. Despite an increasingly sophisticated understanding of dryland environments and societies, the uses now being made of the desertification concept in parts of Asia exhibit many of the shortcomings of earlier work done in Africa. It took scientists more than three decades to transform a perceived desertification crisis in the Sahel into a non-event. This book is an effort to critically examine that experience and accelerate the learning process in other parts of the world. 410 0$aSpringer Earth System Sciences,$x2197-9596 606 $aAtmospheric sciences 606 $aClimate change 606 $aNature conservation 606 $aEconomic geography 606 $aGeology 606 $aAtmospheric Sciences$3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/G36000 606 $aClimate Change/Climate Change Impacts$3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/313000 606 $aNature Conservation$3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/U26008 606 $aEconomic Geography$3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/J12000 606 $aGeology$3https://scigraph.springernature.com/ontologies/product-market-codes/G17002 615 0$aAtmospheric sciences. 615 0$aClimate change. 615 0$aNature conservation. 615 0$aEconomic geography. 615 0$aGeology. 615 14$aAtmospheric Sciences. 615 24$aClimate Change/Climate Change Impacts. 615 24$aNature Conservation. 615 24$aEconomic Geography. 615 24$aGeology. 676 $a333.736 702 $aBehnke$b Roy H$4edt$4http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/edt 702 $aMortimore$b Michael$4edt$4http://id.loc.gov/vocabulary/relators/edt 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910254135803321 996 $aThe End of Desertification$92502040 997 $aUNINA