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Combating Strategies
Published in Ajai, Rimjhim Bhatnagar, Desertification and Land Degradation, 2022
In Turkey, a good example of soil conservation measures reducing wind erosion is from Karapinar district which falls in the semi-arid climatic zone of the country. Here, the primary drivers of soil erosion were overgrazing and inappropriate tillage practice. In many areas, soil erosion was so severe that the surface soil horizon was removed, resulting in the formation of large drifting sand dunes. Such kind of drifting sand dune formation started affecting Karapinar habitation as early as 1956 (Mirzabaev et al. 2019). The situation became so bad that by the 1960s the Karapinar town along with nearby villages was facing the danger of abandonment because of heavy outward migration. Land degradation mitigation and restoration measures were initiated in Karapinar, which included the following actions: (i) construction of cane screen to reduce wind speed and also to restrict sand movement, (ii) afforestation with native tree species, and (iii) increasing grass cover using seeds of local pasture and also the cultivation of rye and wheatgrass. As a result of the implementation of the above restoration and mitigation strategy, about 4,300 ha of degraded land was restored (Akay and Yildirim 2010).
Pasture and Forest Management in the Mediterranean Uplands
Published in Herman J. Finkel, Moshe Finkel, Ze’ev Naveh, Semiarid Soil and Water Conservation, 1986
Coniferous trees, especially pines, play an important role in afforestation projects because of their hardiness, easy establishment, and rapid growth. In countries such as Israel, Cyprus, Spain, and Greece, such upland pine afforestations have saved thousands of hectares from further depletion, provided labor for rural populations, and dramatically improved the denuded and barren mountain landscapes. In many cases they opened the way for the vegetative regeneration of the sclerophyll understory. This could be utilized by proper forest management for the creation of seminatural, mixed, and multilayered multipurpose forest. However, as has been rightly pointed out by Mooney and Gulmon,26 primary production in a habitat, and therefore also wood production, is determined by the resources available at the site, independent of the species utilizing it.
The Energy Problem And Carbon Fixation By Land Vegetation
Published in Kojima Toshinori, Harrison Brian, The Carbon Dioxide Problem, 2019
Kojima Toshinori, Harrison Brian
These evaluations are only preliminary ones and can by no means be regarded as fully adequate. Certainly, there are various complex and economically important benefits associated with afforestation such as the use of amenities, flood prevention, the prevention of soil erosion, water resources, and climatic changes. In the distant past, biomass produced from forests supplied virtually all the energy consumed by human beings. Indeed it could be said that forests were the final fortress for the human race. However, when thinking of these forests in terms of countermeasures against carbon dioxide, then as was apparent in the case of greenification of the deserts in the Middle East, not everything is favourable. Hard-headed evaluations such as the one above are absolutely vital.
Reversing deforestation in a time of changing climate: implications for water management
Published in Water International, 2023
Gauravjeet Singh, Mihretab G. Tedla, Oscar Alvarado
Deforestation is known to drive climate change, mainly by altering the oxygen and carbon balance in the atmosphere. Since the Industrial Revolution, the rate of global warming has substantially increased and the global average surface temperature has consistently exceeded 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level (Ghosh, 2021). Desertification is on the rise and more areas face water shortages than ever. As a result, afforestation and reforestation serve to mitigate desertification, maintain a clean environment, capture atmospheric carbon and provide a source of drinking water. Afforestation in semi-arid regions generally leads to increased precipitation in areas larger than the originally afforested area (Yosef et al., 2018). In the following section we will see different aspects of efforts against deforestation in different parts of the world. The implication of afforestation on water resources management are discussed in the following sections.
Fuel wood consumption, and its influence on forest biomass carbon stock and emission of carbon dioxide. A case study of Kahinaur, district Mau, Uttar Pradesh, India
Published in Biofuels, 2019
Mohd Baqir, Richa Kothari, Rana Pratap Singh
The Indian Forest Survey reports that about 70% of the Indian rural population depends on firewood to meet their household energy needs [8]. According to the 2011 census, approximately 49% of households in India use firewood for cooking. However, in some states this figure is higher than 80%. Poor rural households collect fuel wood from locally available resources like forests to meet their domestic energy needs. Fire wood is the most attractive of the various forms of biomass and occupies a predominant place in the rural energy budget in India [9,10]. To meet the requirement for fuel wood, a policy for a large-scale afforestation program should be developed to meet the need for fuel wood and other ecosystem services from unused land, discarded land or degraded land area, to close the gap between demand and supply. Afforestation has been recognized as a profitable and beneficial strategy for the sequestration of environmental carbon [11]. Measuring the short- and long-term impacts and storage capacity of forests to sequester CO2 would allow the development of informed measures aimed at reducing net CO2 emissions.
Effect of three different types of biochars on eco-physiological response of important agroforestry tree species under salt stress
Published in International Journal of Phytoremediation, 2021
Muhammad Talha Bin Yousaf, Muhammad Farrakh Nawaz, Muhammad Zia ur Rehman, Sadaf Gul, Ghulam Yasin, Muhammad Rizwan, Shafaqat Ali
There are numerous methods which can used to reclaim salt affected soils including physical, chemical, biological and combination of different techniques (Sun et al. 2017; Cao et al. 2018; Day et al. 2019; Kumar et al. 2019). Trees are highly recommended to ameliorate salt affected soils (George et al. 2012; Meir et al. 2014; Sharma and Singh 2019; Arora 2020). Afforestation helps in the remediation and reclamation of unproductive lands and making them suitable for cultivation and ensuring food security (Marcar 2016; Herr et al. 2019).