This volume analyzes the global challenges of food security, land use changes, and climate change impacts on food production in order to recommend sustainable development policies, anticipate future food services and demands, and identify the economic benefits and trade-offs of meeting food security demands and achieving climate change mitigation objectives. The key points of analysis that form the conclusions of this book are based on measuring the quantity and quality of land and water resources, and the rate of use of sustainable management of these resources in the context of socio-economic factors, including food security, poverty, and climate change impacts. In six parts, readers will learn about these crucial dimensions of the affects of climate change on food security, and will gain a better understanding of how to assess the trade-offs when combating multiple climate change challenges and how to develop sustainable solutions to these problems.
The book presents multidimensional perspectives from expert contributors, offering holistic and strategic approaches to link knowledge on climate change and food security with action in the form of policy recommendations, with a focus on sociological and socio-economic components of climate change impacts. The intended audience of the book includes students and researchers engaged in climate change and food security issues, NGOs, and policy makers.
Author Biography:
Dr. Victor Squires is a world renowned expert in rangeland ecology. He obtained his PhD in Rangeland Science from Utah State University, USA. He is the former Dean of the Faculty of Natural Resource Management at the University of Adelaide, where he worked for 15 years. He also worked at CSIRO, Australia’s leading research organization, for 22 years. He is the author/editor of 11 books including ‘Livestock Management in the Arid Zone’, ‘Range and Animal Sciences and Resources Management’, ‘Rangeland Stewardship in Central Asia: Balancing Improved Livelihoods’, ‘Biodiversity Conservation and Land Protection’, and Rangeland Ecology, Management and Conservation Benefits’, and has written numerous research papers on aspects of range/livestock relations. Since his retirement from the University of Adelaide, Dr. Squires has worked as a Visiting Fellow in the East West Center, Hawaii, and is currently an Adjunct Professor in the University of Arizona, Tucson USA and at the Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, China. He has been a consultant to World Bank, Asian Development and various UN agencies in Africa, China, Central Asia and the Middle East. He was awarded the 2008 International Award and Gold Medal for International Science and Technology Cooperation by the Government of China and in 2011 was awarded the Friendship Award by the government of China. The Gold Medal is the highest award for foreigners. In 2015, Dr. Squires was honored by the Society for Range Management (USA) with an Outstanding Achievement Award.
Dr. Mahesh Gaur is a Senior Scientist at the ICAR-Central Arid Zone Research Institute, Jodhpur, India. He specializes in aridlands geography and the application of satellite remote sensing, GIS and digital image processing for natural resources mapping, management and assessment. He also researches drought, desertification, land degradation, indigenous knowledge systems, and the socio-economic milieu of the Thar Desert of India. He has worked as an Associate Professor for more than 13 years with the Department of Higher Education, Government of Rajasthan State, India and has also worked at Sandhan, Jaipur, IIM Ahmedabad, IHS Hyderabad and IN-RIMT in various capacities. He has been associated with ICAR, ISRO, SAC, UGC, various Ministries of Government of India, and ICARDA for sponsored studies. He has published two books and is the author of a number of research papers and book chapters that have appeared in national and international research journals. He is a member of a number of national and international scientific organizations and editorial boards of journals. He has been awarded the Indian Government Citizen Karamveer Award 2011 by iCONGO for working in the field of Higher Education, Environment and Technology Applications for Community Upliftment, and the Millennium Award for working in the field of Environment.
