Water is a vital resource for life. Environmental lawyer Stephen C. McCaffery identifies "two ominous phenomena relating to fresh water: increased water usage and increased global population numbers." This combined increase in population and water scarcity has been labeled as a potential cause for future conflicts and wars. No place on earth is this clash more apparent than the Middle East North Africa Region, especially in the state of Egypt. Given the large population in Egypt and the lack of water, this thesis, using the lens of political ecology, explores how historic and contemporary water policies and laws have influenced water quantity and access to water, and, evaluates whether contemporary agricultural policies will aggravate or improve water management in Egypt in relation to water quantity and accessibility. Scarcity, corruption, and ineffective laws and policies have had a negative effect on water quantity and accessibility, ultimately undermining the sustainability of Egypt's use of a scarce natural resource, the River Nile.

This book depicts the world's desert ecosystems and describe in depth the Indian desert, its resources, different production systems including forestry, agroforestry, agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, mining, industries, etc. It also deals with the efforts made in alleviating hunger and poverty and bringing greenary and grainary to desert inhabitants through large scale afforestation, technological advances in sustainable development of resources, promoting awareness and education of local masses and by promoting international and national concerns on anti desertification programs and policies.

Nearly one-third of the land area on our planet is classified as arid or desert. Therefore, an understanding of the dynamics of such arid ecosystems is essential to managing those systems in a way that sustains human populations. This second edition of Ecology of Desert Systems provides a clear, extensive guide to the complex interactions involved in these areas. This book details the relationships between abiotic and biotic environments of desert ecosystems, demonstrating to readers how these interactions drive ecological processes. These include plant growth and animal reproductive success, the spatial and temporal distribution of vegetation and animals, and the influence of invasive species and anthropogenic climate change specific to arid systems. Drawing on the extensive experience of its expert authors, Ecology of Desert Systems is an essential guide to arid ecosystems for students looking for an overview of the field, researchers keen to learn how their work fits in to the overall picture, and those involved with environmental management of desert areas. Highlights the complexity of global desert systems in a clear, concise way Reviews the most current issues facing researchers in the field, including the spread of invasive species due to globalized trade, the impact of industrial mining, and climate change Updated and extended to include information on invasive species management, industrial mining impacts, and the current and future role of climate change in desert systems

Desert Regions are Familiar faces in many of History of the world. The Earliest civilizations and two of the world’s major Religions were born here. This publication “Environment, People and Development: Experiences from Desert Ecosystems” Highlights some of the Basic and technologically refined information from many parts of the Desert Ecosystems of the world.

This book focuses on the socio-economic aspects of desert communities such as balancing economic and ecological issues, new and renewable energy strategies and nonconventional energy plans. Systems approaches, applications and case studies in developing nations are discussed.

The fact that approximately one-third of the world's land mass is arid desert may be congenial for the camel and the cactus, but not for people. Nevertheless, well over half a billion people, or 15% of the world's population live in arid desert areas. If the world's population were distributed evenly over the land surface, we would expect to find about 30% of the population inhabiting arid desert areas. Does the fact that 'only' 15% of the world's population live in an arid desert environment reflect the harshness of the environment? Or is it a testimony to the adaptability and ingenuity of mankind? Do we view the glass as half-full? Or half-empty? The contributors to Desert Development: Man and Technology in Sparselands adopt the position that the cup is half-full and, in fact, could be filled much more. Indeed, many arid desert zones do thrive with life, and given appropriate technological develop ment, such areas could support even greater popUlations. While the dire Malthusian prediction that rapid world population growth exceeds the carrying capacity of existent resource systems has gained popularity (typified by the 1972 Club of Rome book, Limits to Growth), there is a growing body of serious work which rejects such pessimistic 'depletion' models, in favor of models which are mildly optimistic.

Typical development in the American Southwest often resulted in scraping the desert lands of the ancient living landscape, to be replaced with one that is human-made and dependent on a large consumption of energy and natural resources. This transdisciplinary book explores the natural and built environment of this desert region and introduces development tools for shaping its future in a more sustainable way. It offers valuable insights to help promote ecological balance between nature and the built environment in the American Southwest-and in other ecologically fragile regions around the world.