Rangeland management and climate hazards in drylands: dust storms, desertification and the overgrazing debate

Middleton, Nick

doi:10.1007/s11069-016-2592-6

Cited by 66 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…Moreover, two most recent studies suggested that the dust storms in northern China are likely to be more severe and impact larger areas over the past two decades (Guan et al, ; Wang et al, ). Therefore, continuous efforts in China are needed to combat desertification and severe dust storms (Middleton, ). However, this crucial information is challenging to extract by examining the long‐term trend of severe dust storm alone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The vast arid and semiarid region in north and northwest China (~3.57 × 10 −6 km 2 ) is one of the primary dust source regions around the world (Shao & Dong, ), making China subjected to annual severe dust storm threats, especially in spring (Zhou & Zhang, ). The Chinese government has launched a series of large‐scale projects to combat desertification and mitigate dust storm disasters, such as the “Three‐North” Shelter Forest Program, the “Grain for Green” Program, and the Beijing–Tianjin Sand Source Control Program that started in 1978, 1999, and 2001, respectively (Middleton, ; Tan & Li, ). In the meantime, many studies have been carried out to monitor and predict the long‐term trend of severe dust storm frequency.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the meantime, many studies have been carried out to monitor and predict the long‐term trend of severe dust storm frequency. These studies indicated that the annual frequency of severe dust storms in China has been declining since the 1950s, which is likely associated with the changes in atmospheric circulation and rainfall patterns, the weakening of the westerly jet stream, and a greater vegetation coverage (e.g., Ding et al, ; Fan et al, ; Liu et al, ; Middleton, ; Wang et al, ; Zou & Zhai, ). Such a downward trend in severe dust storm activity in China is concurrent with the warming climate and is predicted to be sustained in the future (Fan et al, ; Goudie, ; He et al, ; Zhu et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Clustering of Severe Dust Storm Occurrence in China From 1958 to 2007

et al. 2018

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China is subjected to severe dust storms that deteriorate air quality and cause substantial damages to environment and socioeconomics. Although the annual frequency of severe dust storms in China has been declining since the 1950s, the variability of severe dust storm occurrence in time and space remains inadequately described under the changing climate. Based on the continuous observation at 368 meteorological observation sites across the mainland China over a 50-year period (1958 to 2007), we found that the temporal clustering of severe dust storm outbreak has intensified after 1985, which exacerbated the irregularity in the monthly distribution of severe dust storms. Moreover, the timing of the clustering has shown a higher interannual variation after 1985. Therefore, the variability of severe dust storm occurrence has increased significantly since the 1980s at the annual and monthly time scales. In addition, the relative probability of experiencing severe dust storms with a large influential range has risen since the 1980s. Spatially, severe dust storm outbreak has receded from spreading across the country in the 1950s to primarily affecting north and northwest China in the 2000s. These findings suggest a relatively higher risk of dust storm disaster in north and northwest China that is associated with the intensified clustering of severe dust storm activity in both time and space. Continuous studies are needed to identify the favorable synoptic system that stimulates the clustering of severe dust storm outbreak. We advocate more efforts to enhance severe dust storm prediction and warning dissemination in north and northwest China.GUO ET AL. 8035

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Clustering of Severe Dust Storm Occurrence in China From 1958 to 2007

et al. 2018

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“…Assessments of the efficacy of these policy developments in remediating desertification in general, and specifically in preventing SDS, indicate the complexities of managing the issues [145]. The GGW program has greatly improved vegetation cover and effectively reduced dust storm intensity in parts of northern China [8], but other researchers point to warmer temperatures and greater rainfall as being more important drivers of greening trends in the area [146], and the value of large-scale afforestation in controlling desertification and soil erosion in China has been questioned due to low tree survival rates [147].…”

Section: Contemporary National Regional and International Plansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sand and Dust Storms: Impact Mitigation

2017

Self Cite

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Sand and dust storms (SDS) play an integral role in the Earth system but they also present a range of hazards to the environmental and economic sustainability of human society. These hazards are of considerable importance for residents of dryland environments and also affect people beyond drylands because wind erosion can occur in most environments and desert dust events often involve long-range transport over great distances (>1000 km). This paper makes an assessment of the scale of SDS impacts by totalling the countries affected using an appraisal of peer-reviewed published sources, arriving at a conservative estimate that 77% of all parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) are affected directly by SDS issues. We then present a synthesis of the environmental management techniques designed to mitigate SDS hazards for disaster risk reduction and review policy measures, both historical and contemporary, for SDS impact mitigation. Although many SDS hazards are well-known, the processes involved and their impacts are not all equally well-understood. Policies designed to mitigate the impacts of wind erosion in agricultural areas have been developed in certain parts of the world but policies designed to mitigate the wider impacts of SDS, including many that are transboundary, are geographically patchy and have a much shorter history. Further development and wider implementation of such policies is advocated because of the recent marked increase in wind erosion and associated dust storms in several parts of the world.

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“…A growing literature has illustrated that pastoralists inhabit arid and semi-arid environments characterized by non-equilibrium pasture conditions, where the location, quality and variety of vegetation fluctuate annually based on variations in rainfall (Middleton 2016). The non-equilibrium model takes into account the patchiness of arid environments, where the timing, amount and duration of precipitation can cause situations where drought and non-drought conditions might be only a few kilometres apart (Krätli 2017).…”

Section: Bayankhongor Provincementioning

confidence: 99%

Herders and hazards: covariate dzud risk and the cost of risk management strategies in a Mongolian subdistrict

Ahearn

2017

Nat Hazards

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Studies of mobile pastoralist livelihoods have shown that a variety of sociotechnical practices have been developed to achieve reliable outputs from livestock in variable arid and semi-arid environments. This paper builds upon the concept of pastoralists as high-reliability seekers rather than risk-averse and makes a case for understanding Mongolian herders as well adapted to livestock production in highly variable climatic conditions within a certain threshold of risk and uncertainty. This system fails, however, during instances of high uncertainty and covariate risk such as in cases of the natural hazard dzud, which requires individual households to make significant cash investments in risk management. It forwards the idea that investing in local government-soum and bag leveladministrative capacity and infrastructure is needed to build system resilience to covariate risk. Based on ethnographic research in rural Bayankhongor, this paper interrogates how dzud interfaces with socio-economic factors amongst pastoralists in central west Mongolia.

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Rangeland management and climate hazards in drylands: dust storms, desertification and the overgrazing debate

Cited by 66 publications

References 89 publications

The Clustering of Severe Dust Storm Occurrence in China From 1958 to 2007

The Clustering of Severe Dust Storm Occurrence in China From 1958 to 2007

Sand and Dust Storms: Impact Mitigation

Herders and hazards: covariate dzud risk and the cost of risk management strategies in a Mongolian subdistrict

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