Description
Book SynopsisThis up-to-date, second edition of Land Degradation explores substantial decreases in the land''s biological productivity or usefulness to humans due to human activities. Case studies_including tourist impacts in Europe, the environmental footprints of urban areas, wetland drainage for agriculture in the American Midwest, run-on farming in the Negev, land degradation in the Amazon Basin, and irrigation in Egypt_cover the history of land degradation, identify the level of human responsibility in transforming natural landscapes into sustainable agro-ecosystems, look at local and regional effects of human interactions with the environment, and reveal both negative and positive aspects of land modification. Extensively illustrated, Land Degradation can be used as the primary text in a course of the same name or as a supplement in courses covering land use, environmental change, and sustainability.
Trade ReviewThis volume...provides a readable and wide-ranging examination of land degradation....Full of brief but well-chosen examples. The authors...have written a text that is highly accessible to an interdisciplinary audience, explaining technical terms clearly and concisely. * Human Ecology, October 2008 *
Reflecting the combined expertise of the authors, the enhanced second edition of Land Degradation considers the impact of biophysical and social systems on land conditions and identifies principles that further the pursuit of sustainable land use. Accessible to an interdisciplinary audience—from students and land managers to researchers and policymakers—the book is an important contribution to sustainability science. -- Peter Klepeis, Colgate University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 1 Land Degradation: Human and Physical Interactions Chapter 2 2 Land Use and Degradation in Historical Perspective Chapter 3 3 The Physical Domain and Land Degradation Chapter 4 4 Human Causes of Land Degradation Chapter 5 5 Land Degradation at the Local Scale Chapter 6 6 Land Degradation: Regional and Global Examples Chapter 7 7 Creative Destruction Chapter 8 8 Land Degradation and Creative Destruction: Retrospective Chapter 9 References
