Author: David Pimentel Publisher: Cambridge University Press ISBN: 9780521104715 Category : Nature Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Land degradation from soil erosion has been considered by many to be a problem of significant proportion, affecting some 30-50% of the earth's land surface. At the time of the first publication of this book in 1993, estimates indicated that 10-15 million hectares of land were being lost each year through erosion and salinisation from irrigation and that at such a rate of loss, topsoil reserves on most sloping lands would be depleted within two hundred years. Since humankind's dependency on the land for food is almost total, soil erosion represents a real threat to the security of our food supply. The need for the immediate conservation of the world's soil resources is therefore clear. As part of the response to this need, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Commission on Ecology convened a special working group to consider the problem of world soil erosion and to propose practical solutions for soil conservation. This important book presents the outcome of their work.
Author: Chris Reij Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1134175930 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 348
Book Description
Indigenous soil and water conservation practices are rarely acknowledged in the design of conventional development projects. Instead, the history of soil and water conservation in Africa has been one of imposing external solutions without regard for local practice. There is a remarkably diverse range of locally developed and adapted technologies for the conservation of water and soil, well suited to their particular site and socio-economic conditions. But such measures have been ignored, and sometimes even overturned, by external solutions. Sustaining the Soil documents farmers' practices, exploring the origins and adaptations carried out by farmers over generations, in response to changing circumstances. Through a comparative analysis of conservation measures - from the humid zones of West Africa to the arid lands of the Sudan, from rock terraces in Morocco to the grass strips of Swaziland - the book explores the various factors that influence adoption and adaptation; farmers' perceptions of conservation needs; and the institutional and policy settings most favorable to more effective land husbandry. For the first time on an Africa-wide scale, this book shows that indigenous techniques work, and are being used successfully to conserve and harvest soil and water. These insights combine to suggest new ways forward for governments and agencies attempting to support sustainable land management in Africa, involving a fusion of traditional and modern approaches, which makes the most of both the new and the old.
Author: International Development Research Centre (Canada) Publisher: IDRC ISBN: 088936804X Category : Water resources development Languages : en Pages : 313
Book Description
Water Management in Africa and the Middle East: Challenges and Opportunities
Author: Michael Mortimore Publisher: World Conservation Union ISBN: Category : Business & Economics Languages : en Pages : 100
Book Description
Drylands cover 41 percent of the earth' s terrestrial surface. The urgency of and international response to climate change have given a new place to drylands in terms both of their vulnerability to predicted climate change impacts and their potential contribution to climate change mitigation. This book aims to apply the new scientific insights on complex dryland systems to practical options for development. A new dryland paradigm is built on the resources and capacities of dryland peoples, on new and emergent economic opportunities, on inward investment, and on the best support that dryland science can offer.
Author: W. Graeme Donovan Publisher: World Bank Publications ISBN: 9780821342367 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 76
Book Description
World Bank Technical Paper No. 408. This report is a critical review of the technical, economic, and institutional constraints on improving soil fertility in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the actions recommended to address them. Action plans prepared for Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Mali examine the demand for and supply of mineral fertilizers, the exploitation of local mineral resources, the prevention of soil erosion and increasing soil-water retention, and soil fertility management using organic technologies and management practices.
Author: GHANSHYAM DAS Publisher: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. ISBN: 8120335864 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 550
Book Description
Streamlined to facilitate student understanding, this second edition, containing the latest techniques and methodologies and some new problems, continues to provide a comprehensive treatment of hydrology of watersheds, soil erosion problems, design and installation of soil conservation practices and structures, hydrologic and sediment yield models, watershed management and water harvesting. It also deals with the special requirements of management of agricultural and forested watersheds. This book is designed for undergraduate students of agricultural engineering for courses in hydrology, and soil and water conservation engineering. It will also be of considerable value to students of agriculture, soil science, forestry, and civil engineering. KEY FEATURES Emphasises fundamentals using numerous illustrations to help students visualise different phenomena Offers lucid presentation of field practices Presents the analysis and design of basic hydraulic structures Devotes an entire chapter to watershed management Provides numerous solved design problems and exercise problems to develop a clear understanding of the theory Gives theoretical questions, and objective type questions with answers to test the students’ understanding.
Author: M. Shahin Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 0306480654 Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 674
Book Description
Africa, the cradle of many old civilizations, is the second largest world continent, and the homeland of nearly one-eighth of the world population. Despite Africa’s richness in natural resources, the average income per person, after excluding a few countries, is the lowest all over the world, and the percentage of inhabitants infected with contagious diseases is the highest. Development of Africa to help accommodate the ever-increasing population and secure a reasonable living standard to all inhabitants, though an enormous challenge is extremely necessary. Water is the artery of life, without it all living creatures on earth cannot survive. As such, a thorough knowledge of the meteorological and hydrological processes influencing the yield and quality of the water resources, surface and subsurface, and their distribution and variability in time and space is unavoidable for the overall development of any part of the world. It is highly probable that the said knowledge is at present a top priority to Africa, a continent that has been for so long-and probably still-devastated by the endless ambitions of colonial powers not to forget the corruption and destruction practiced by the internal powers, at least in some countries. The present book “Hydrology and Water Resources of Africa” is written with the aim of bringing together in one volume a fair amount of knowledge any professional involved in hydrology and water resources of Africa needs to know.
Author: Nteranya Sanginga Publisher: CIAT ISBN: 9290592613 Category : Soil fertility Languages : en Pages : 270
Book Description
Forward. A call for integrated soil fertility management in Africa. Introduction. ISFM and the African farmer. Part I. The principles of ISFM: ISFM as a strategic goal, Fertilizer management within ISFM, Agro-minerals in ISFM, Organic resource management, ISFM, soil biota and soil health. Part II. ISFM practices: ISFM products and fields practices, ISFM practice in drylands, ISFM practice in savannas and woodlands, ISFM practice in the humid forest zone, Conservation Agriculture. Part III. The process of implementing ISFM: soil fertility diagnosis, soil fertility management advice, Dissemination of ISFM technologies, Designing an ISFM adoption project, ISFM at farm and landscape scales. Part IV. The social dimensions of ISFM: The role of ISFM in gender empowerment, ISFM and household nutrition, Capacity building in ISFM, ISFM in the policy arena, Marketing support for ISFM, Advancing ISFM in Africa. Appendices: Mineral nutrient contents of some common organic resources.
Author: David Pimentel
Author: Chris Reij
Author: John Cecil Day
Author: International Development Research Centre (Canada)
Author: Michael Mortimore
Author: W. Graeme Donovan
Author: GHANSHYAM DAS
Author: International Development Research Centre (Canada)
Author: M. Shahin
Author: Nteranya Sanginga