LAND DEGRADATION AND DESERTIFICATION

In recent years, land degradation and desertification have become common problems due to various natural and man-induced processes. These processes have rendered the land either infertile or not at all suitable for agriculture, and to some extent for human habitat as well. There is thus a need to achieve a better practical and theoretical understanding of land degradation and desertification processes that affect the world’s landscape.

This volume, which is an attempt in this direction, includes 26 scientific papers that deal with the various issues relating to land degradation and desertification of different morphogenetic regions such as arid, coastal, humid, mediterranean, mountainous, periglacial and tropical. It contains case studies from Argentina, Bangladesh, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Spain and Zambia covering varied themes like biogeography, environmental components, floods, landuse, gully-erosion and management, human impacts on terrain, social and economic aspects, soil geography, landscape ecology, and land and water resources.

The book, will prove useful for students and researchers of geography, geology, environmental science, agriculture, planning and regional development.

V.C. Jha is Professor and former Head, Department of Geography, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal.

Having a distinguished academic career, he received Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Research Fellowship in Geology for his doctoral degree. Prior to joining Visva-Bharati University in 1986, he worked for the National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad posted at IIRS, Dehradun.

Dr. Jha has numerous research papers to his credit and has published books as well. He has travelled widely and participated in the various workshops/conferences and IAG EC meetings.