Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 318
•
Trim: 7¾ x 9½
978-0-7425-1947-3 • Hardback • July 2006 • $159.00 • (£123.00)
Douglas L. Johnson is professor of geography at Clark University. Laurence A. Lewis is professor of geography at Clark University.
Chapter 1 1 Land Degradation: Human and Physical Interactions
Chapter 2 2 Land Use and Degradation in Historical Perspective
Chapter 3 3 The Physical Domain and Land Degradation
Chapter 4 4 Human Causes of Land Degradation
Chapter 5 5 Land Degradation at the Local Scale
Chapter 6 6 Land Degradation: Regional and Global Examples
Chapter 7 7 Creative Destruction
Chapter 8 8 Land Degradation and Creative Destruction: Retrospective
Chapter 9 References
This volume...provides a readable and wide-ranging examination of land degradation....Full of brief but well-chosen examples. The authors...have written a text that is highly accessible to an interdisciplinary audience, explaining technical terms clearly and concisely.
— Human Ecology, October 2008
Reflecting the combined expertise of the authors, the enhanced second edition of Land Degradation considers the impact of biophysical and social systems on land conditions and identifies principles that further the pursuit of sustainable land use. Accessible to an interdisciplinary audience—from students and land managers to researchers and policymakers—the book is an important contribution to sustainability science.
— Peter Klepeis, Colgate University
—Employs a long-term perspective on land degradation.
—Gives examples of land degradation that result in stable long-term agro systems.
—Looks at how short-term planning perspectives promote land degradation.
—Examines how environmental costs are oftenexported from areas of interest, some locally and some globally.
—Examines the linkages between critical resources (zones) and sacrifice areas resulting in both negative and positive land degradation.
Praise for the First Edition:
"The authors of Land Degradation present new perspectives on this important topic and provide a complete and comprehensive discussion of the interaction between the natural environment and human activity."
—Social Science Quarterly
"This well-written, cogently argued book is rich in examples."
—New Scientist
"Well written, illustrated with numerous examples from around the globe, and filled with diverse biological, geological, and political information,Land Degradation provides an excellent overview of a compelling problem."
—Choice