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- Main Articles Listing:
Arid Lands Studies
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- 1. New Book: "The Future of Arid Lands Revisited"
- "The Future of Arid Lands Revisited: A Review of 50 Years of Drylands Research", is a new book written by a team led by the director for the UA Office of Arid Lands, Chuck Hutchinson. The book was formally launched in Paris in October during the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s 34th General Conference.
Commissioned by UNESCO, the book assesses the current state of drylands science, how it has developed over the past 50 years, and what lessons can be drawn for current drylands management practices. Speaking at the Paris book launch, Hutchinson highlighted the global importance of these particularly fragile ecosystems.
How to develop the world's drylands has long been a "hot topic" both for University of Arizona researchers and for UNESCO. In the 1950s, an international conference of experts commissioned by UNESCO considered the major issues then confronting drylands and developed a research agenda for addressing these issues.
The resulting 1956 book, "The Future of Arid Lands", summarized the era's reliance on sector-specific development strategies, as well as its overall optimistic mood and belief in the promise of "magic bullet" solutions to drylands problems.
But how valid are those assessments and strategies today? That's the core question UNESCO asked Hutchinson and his team to address.
Starting with sector-by-sector comparisons of the scientific understanding of the 1950s with our current scientific understanding as it has developed over the past 50 years, "The Future of Arid Lands Revisited" draws lessons from these comparisons that could help current land managers, policy makers and other stakeholders to develop new, more sustainable strategies for drylands development.
Throughout, this new publication clearly shows how current drylands development thinking has evolved into a systems-based approach that considers people as integral to any drylands development strategy.
Based on this shift, the book will appeal not only to its core audience of those directly involved in arid lands management, but also to a much broader audience of anyone who wants to better understand the state of arid lands science today.
There are two versions available. The hardcover commercial version is from Springer Verlag
(http://www.springer.com/west/home?SGWID=4-102-22-173755437-0) and costs $169.00. A softcover version from UNESCO
(http://publishing.unesco.org/details.aspx?Code_Livre=4562) costs 32 euros.
Contact: Katherine Waser, OALS
Phone: 520-621-8584
Email: kwaser@ag.arizona.edu - Updated: November 30, 2007
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