Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 10.3
Restoration work in
progress, mesquite (
Prosopis
glandulosa
) mounds (1995).
Re-establishing trees or shrubs can
provide critical habitat and initiate
recovery of many species.
Multipurpose tree crops like the
nitrogen - fi xing mesquite tree can
also provide food and resources for
people and livestock. (Photograph by
David Bainbridge.)
Figure 10.4
Mesquite mound after
13 years (2008). The fi ne - leaved
mesquite captures blowing sand to
create nebkas or mounds. Capturing
blowing sand and soil symbionts
under the canopy creates a mound
with a moist, resource-rich
environment for plant, insect and
animal species. (Photograph by David
Bainbridge.)
more serious problems. The specialized narrowly
focused research rewarded in academia and by
funders can lead to misunderstandings of complex
socio - ecological systems
. Desertifi cation often
involves cumulative (over decades) and synergistic
effects that can make isolating causes and symptoms
diffi cult. Research on desertifi cation has focused on a
small range of factors, most commonly a subset of eco-
logical symptoms while the more sensitive issues of
political and economic causes are ignored or neglected.
To be successful, restoration must include ecological
and cultural factors.
Understanding is also limited by the lack of histori-
cal baseline information for both ecological and cul-
tural factors. To develop an effective restoration plan,
Figure 10.5
The causal chain of desertifi cation or
restoration. To understand what we see in the fi eld, we need
to understand the policies that guide behaviour. Improved
management and restoration may require changes in
fi nancial and political policies that create incentives for
conservation instead of exploitation.
