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This position paper elaborates on the significance and implications of the world's soil systems as climate regulators in their still unexploited potential to fight climate change and in the aspiration of modern society aiming at sustainable use of resources and safeguarding of life on the planet.The paper stresses the importance of Soil Management and Land Conservation as essential tools for the longevity of civilizations.Under the current climate change, there is a close relationship between climate factors and soil performance, but soil influences climate parameters, making it an important climate regulator.The text calls for a vision that recognizes soil as a natural system with socio-economic benefits and ecological functions and mentions the European Green Deal and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as initiatives addressing soil and land issues.The text emphasizes the need for a profound and intelligent radical change in environmental, social, and economic approaches to address climate change. It highlights the responsibility of the current generation to make the right choices for the planet and future generations.

Superabsorbent composites (SACs) are widely used for agricultural applications acts as a "miniature soil moisture reservoir" for plants. While these substrates have excellent water retention properties, they often suffer from production costs and a variety of environmental challenges. Herein, polyaspartic acid (PASP), waste paper fibers (WPF) and 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS) graft copolymerize acrylic acid (AA) to prepare a novel multifunctional PASP-g-P(AA-co-AMPS)/WPF SACs. The synthesis conditions use to prepare the PASP-g-P(AA-co-AMPS)/WPF SACs are optimized, including PASP content, mass ratio of AMPS and AA, initiator content and cross-linker content. In addition, the water retention, salt and acid resistance, reversible swelling and temperature sensitivity of SACs are also investigated and analyzed in detail. Due to the uniform distribution and the rich pore structure, it has a maximum equilibrium adsorption capacity of optimal SACs in distilled water, tap water and NaCl solution (0.9 wt%) are determined to be 731.0 g g−1, 189.2 g g−1 and 81.4 g g−1, respectively. Thus, PASP-g-P(AA-co-AMPS)/WPF SACs exhibit excellent environmental tolerance and provide a promising strategy for sustainable agriculture and desertification control. [Display omitted] • Providing a method for utilizing WPF. • A novel SACs synthesized using PASP and WPF. • SACs with excellent water retention and repeating water absorption. • SACs with favorable temperature sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new technique was introduced for sand stabilization and re-vegetation by use of lignin sand stabilizing material (LSSM). LSSM is a reconstructed organic compound with lignin as the most dominant component from the extracts of black-liquor issued by straw pulp paper mills. Unlike the polyvinyl acetate or foamed asphalt commonly used for dune stabilization, the new material is plant-friendly and can be used with virescence actions simultaneously. The field experimental study was conducted since 2001 in China's Northwest Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and has been proved that LSSM is effective in stabilizing the fugitive dunes, making the arenaceous plants survive and the bare dune vegetative. The advisable solution concentration is 2% and the optimal field spraying quantity is 2.5 L/m^2. The soil nutrients of the stabilized and greened dune, such as organic matter, available phosphorous and total nitrogen are all increased compared with the control treatment, which is certainly helpful to the growth of arenaceous plants. The technique is worthwhile to be popularized because it is provided not only a new method for desertification control but also an outlet for cleaning contaminants issued from the straw paper mills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil microbial communities, which play a key role in the provision of essential ecosystem services, are significantly influenced by several physical and chemical soil properties that may change with land management. This study explores the effect of different land cover types (coniferous tree stands, broad-leaved stands, shrublands, pastures/grasslands and croplands) on physical, chemical and microbial properties (all contributing to soil health) in southern European areas under moderate-high desertification risk selected in Italy, Spain and Portugal. In sites that differ in land cover, we determined microbial biomass (C mic), activity and indices of microbial metabolism including C mic /C org ratio, metabolic quotient (qCO 2) and quotient of mineralization (qM). Soil physical and chemical properties were also measured, comprising bulk density (BD), water content (WC), pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), total organic C (C org) and some of its labile fractions, extractable C (C ext) and mineralizable C (C min), total N content and C/N. Results showed that land cover type played a strong role in determining magnitude of microbial variables with biomass and activity being higher under coniferous tree cover than in other land covers, according to trends in WC, CEC, C org , C ext , C min , N, C/N. Compared to land cover, aridity index had lower effect on investigated variables. In comparison to sites with higher C org content, sites with lower C org content (most croplands) tended to lose C more rapidly, as suggested by high qM values, except for Spanish acidic soils. Therefore, urgent actions must be taken to counteract the tendency of C-poorer soils to lose C, promoting land cover types that facilitate soil recovery by ensuring denser and more continuous soil cover over time. We also identified a minimum set of soil variables that provide information on soil health changes in both short term (microbial variables) and longer term (physical and chemical variables) in areas under desertification risk. [Display omitted] • Land cover is a key factor affecting soil health in areas at desertification risk. • Coniferous cover had the best effect on soil microbial, physical and chemical variables. • Croplands, grasslands, shrublands and broad-leaved soils differed at a lesser extent. • Soils poorer in organic C tended to lose C more rapidly than richer soils. • A minimum data set of soil health indicators was proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In recent decades, the Loess Plateau is one of the regions in China that urgently needs ecological governance due to the severe situation of soil erosion and land desertification. Due to the impact of climate change and human activities, the threat to the ecological space security of the Loess Plateau has intensified. This paper reveals the time lag effect of ecological engineering construction on the changes in the ecosystem service capacity index of the Loess Plateau, providing a scientific basis and decision-making reference for the sustainable development of the study area and improving the quality and management of ecological engineering construction, which is of great significance for building a solid ecological security barrier on the Loess Plateau. Methods: Based on the hierarchical analysis method, quantitative indicator method, spatial correlation analysis method and two-way fixed effect model, this paper analyzes the temporal and spatial changes of the ecosystem service capacity index of the Loess Plateau under the background of ecological engineering implementation. Results: The results showed that: 1) the vegetation coverage of the Loess Plateau increased with the increase of the area of ecological engineering construction, and showed a fluctuating growth distribution characteristic from southeast to northwest in space; 2) the water conservation capacity index, wind and sand fixation capacity index, biodiversity capacity index and comprehensive service capacity index of the Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2020 all showed exponential growth, which were highly coupled with the growth and change of vegetation coverage area in time and space; 3) the cold spots and hot spots of the ecosystem service capacity index of the Loess Plateau showed a step-by-step decrease of "hot in the south and cold in the north" in spatial distribution; the hot spots and sub-hot spots showed a reciprocating cycle from aggregation to fragmentation in time and space; the cold spots and sub-cold spots were mainly distributed in the northwest region. 4) The changes in the ecosystem service capacity index of the Loess Plateau were mainly affected by factors such as the cumulative project implementation area, urbanization rate and precipitation. Conclusion: The construction of ecological engineering on the Loess Plateau has achieved remarkable results. The growth of vegetation coverage area and ecosystem service capacity index on the Loess Plateau from 2000 to 2020 has promoted the recovery of ecosystem functions. Therefore, we should actively promote the construction of ecological projects to provide scientific decisionmaking references for solving regional ecological security issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drylands are vast and face threats from climate change and human activities. Traditional reviews cannot capture interdisciplinary knowledge, but bibliometric analysis provides valuable insights. Our study conducted bibliometric research of scientific production on climate change and land degradation in drylands using remote sensing. We examined 1527 Scopus-indexed publications to identify geographic and thematic hotspots, extracting leading authors, journals, and institutions. China leads in publications, followed by the US, Germany, and Australia. The US has the highest citation count. Collaboration networks involve the US, China, and European countries. There has been an exponential increase in remote sensing of land degradation in drylands (RSLDD) publications since 2011. Key journals include "International Journal of Remote Sensing" and "Remote Sensing of Environment". The analysis highlights the growing interest in the field, driven by Australia, the US, and China. Key areas of study are vegetation dynamics and land use change. Future perspectives for this scientific field involve promoting collaboration and exploring emerging technologies for comprehensive land degradation and desertification research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coupling between modern electric power physical and cyber systems is deepening. An increasing number of users are gradually participating in power operation and control, engaging in bidirectional interactions with the grid. The evolving new power system is transforming into a highly intelligent socio–cyber–physical system, featuring increasingly intricate and expansive architectures. Demands for stable system operation are becoming more specific and rigorous. The new power system confronts significant challenges in areas like planning, dispatching, and operational maintenance. Hence, this paper aims to comprehensively explore potential synergies among various power system components from multiple viewpoints. It analyzes numerous core elements and key technologies to fully unlock the efficiency of this coupling. Our objective is to establish a solid theoretical foundation and practical strategies for the precise implementation of integrated planning and operation dispatching of source–grid–load–storage systems. Based on this, the paper first delves into the theoretical concepts of source, grid, load, and storage, comprehensively exploring new developments and emerging changes in each domain within the new power system context. Secondly, it summarizes pivotal technologies such as data acquisition, collaborative planning, and security measures, while presenting reasonable prospects for their future advancement. Finally, the paper extensively discusses the immense value and potential applications of the integrated planning and operation dispatching concept in source–grid–load–storage systems. This includes its assistance in regards to large-scale engineering projects such as extreme disaster management, facilitating green energy development in desertification regions, and promoting the construction of zero-carbon parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This special issue delivers a platform in which researchers expose intersections between algorithm design, software platforms, and hardware architectures to deal with emerging challenges in the scientific field of management of water and water-dependent resources. Since the call for papers was announced in June 2019, this special issue has received 10 manuscripts. After a rigorous review process, 6 papers have been finally accepted for publication. Published papers deal with groundwater quality monitoring, coastal groundwater-dependent irrigation agriculture, desertification risk, water recovery from tailings, future scenarios of water resources, and vulnerability of coastal aquifers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karst rocky desertification occurs after vegetation deteriorates as a result of intensive land use, which leads to severe water loss and soil erosion and exposes basement rocks, creating a rocky landscape. The karst rocky desertification is found in humid areas in Southwest China, the region most seriously affected by rocky desertification in the world. In order to promote ecological restoration and help peasants out of poverty, the Chinese government carried out the first phase of a rocky desertification control project from 2006 to 2015, which initially contained the expansion of rocky desertification. Currently, the Chinese government is prepared to implement the second phase of the rocky desertification control project, and therefore it is essential to summarize the lessons learned over the last ten years of the first phase. In this paper, we analyze the driving social and economic factors behind rocky desertification, summarize the scientific research on rocky desertification in the region, and finally identify the main problems facing rocky desertification control. In addition, we put forward several policy suggestions that take into account the perspective of local peasants, the scientific research, and China's economic development and urbanization process. These suggestions include: promoting the non-agriculturalization of household livelihoods, improving ecological compensation, strengthening the evaluation of rocky desertification control and dynamic monitoring, and strengthening research on key ecological function recovery technologies and supporting technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is one of the most critical environmental hazards for the viability and productive development of crops, especially in a climate change environment. To this end, drought assessment is a process of paramount importance to make vulnerable agricultural regions more resilient. The primary aim of this paper is an integrated drought assessment through time and space in one of the most susceptible (in terms of water availability limitations) and agriculturally productive regions in Greece and the Mediterranean, namely, the Thessaly region. Supplementary objectives consist of the determination of the two most extreme years in terms of drought and wetness, so that we may reveal any potential climatological cycles/patterns from 1981 to 2020. Additionally, the methodology includes the annual and seasonal analysis using one of the most widely used drought indices, namely, the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI), so that consistent measurements are available across a large study area, avoiding the possible scarcity/deficiency of data coming from a sparse land weather network. The innovative element of this paper is the integrated spatiotemporal drought assessment in multiple time scales through the estimation of the SPI making use of remotely sensed data, such as CHIRPS (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data). The outcomes highlight that the study area faced two severe years of drought in 1988 and 1989, which led to moderate and extreme drought conditions, respectively. In contrast, extremely wet conditions were observed in 2002–2003, whereas 2009–2010 experienced moderately wet conditions. The central and western part of the region tends to suffer the most in terms of drought severity, especially at the most extreme years. The validity of the results has been confirmed by the adoption of R2 where the index is approaching 0.67 despite the large size of the pixels (5 × 5 km). In this context, the mapping of spatial and seasonal variability across the study area permits more targeted measures (e.g., precision farming) instead of horizontal policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Karst desertification (KD) is a major ecological and environmental problem threatening human survival and development in karst areas. In order to explore the research situation and development trend of KD based on forest ecology, this paper provides a systematic literature review based on the CNKI and WoS databases, which involves search, appraisal, synthesis, and analysis. We performed a statistical and visual analysis of 2955 studies acquired between 1 January 1995 and 30 June 2023, including the time distribution of the studies, hot research trends, pivotal research clusters, literature co-citations, main publishing trends, and keyword bursts. The results show the following. (1) The literature shows a fluctuating growth trend, and the research trends are divided into accumulation, development, and expansion stages. (2) The pivotal research clusters comprised three major aspects: study area and method, driving and genetic mechanisms, and control technology and models. (3) KD research forms a China-centered research network, dominated by institutions and scholars in southwestern China. (4) Future research needs to solve a series of related scientific issues and technological needs for forest ecosystem function optimization, ecological product supply capacity enhancement, ecological product value realization, ecological industry formation, and rural revitalization in KD control. The purpose of this paper is to reveal research trends relating to KD and highlight the future direction of KD research and control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desertification is a prolonged stage of land degradation which converts the productive ecosystem to fragile by three crucial events namely evapotranspiration, rainfall and negative human intrusion. The present study concentrates on identifying the causative factors of desertification namely temperature, wind, rainfall and human pressure, distinguishing the desertified land from degraded land and assessing the way from which the soil degradation process gets accelerated by those factors by employing the datasets such as long term (2001-2011) and short term (2012-2015) Meteorological data and Landsat ETM+ and OLI satellite imageries of crop growing period (June-October) into geostatistical methods and newly proposed remote sensing models which yielded good accuracy with in situ observations (R² = 0.8). In temperature induced desertified region, the rate of increment of the saline affected region was magnified significantly from 16 to 74% (2001-2015) due to the presence of native fluoride concentration and extreme temperature event over a period of time. The long term exaggeration of soil moisture stress (19 to 90%) has been notified in the areas that were susceptible to wind induced desertification, due to high evaporation rate invoked by extreme wind event for a substantial period. Similarly rainfall induced desertified regions have also been experiencing high soil moisture stress (4 to 70%) because of the insufficient reception of rainfall. High human made soil salinity (36%), human occupancy (16%), followed by moisture stress (7%) are observed in the human affected region because of growing population and improper land management of the already fragile land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iraqi Journal of Science is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Poplar (Populus sp.) plantations have been used broadly for combating desertification, urban greening, and paper and wood production in northern China. However, given the high water use by the species and the regional dry environment, the long-term sustainability of these plantations needs to be evaluated. Currently, the understanding of energy partitioning and canopy resistance to water vapor and CO2 in poplar plantations is limited, impeding an accurate assessment of their true ecosystem functions. This study examined the variability of canopy bulk resistance parameters and energy partitioning over a four-year period encompassing both dry and wet conditions in a poplar (Populus euramericana CV. "74 / 76") plantation ecosystem located in northern China. Available energy (Net radiation Rn minus Soil Heat Flux, G) partitioning to latent (LE) and sensible (H) heat was responsive to climatological drought, with LE/(Rn-G) ranging from 62% in wet years (e.g. 2007 and 2008) to 53% in dry years (e.g. 2006 and 2009), and H/(Rn-G) from 25 to 33% between wet and dry years. Correspondingly, the Bowen ratio (β=H/LE) were 0.83 and 1.57. Surface resistance (Rs) had the greatest response to drought (+43%), but the aerodynamic and climatological resistances did not change significantly (p > 0.05). Partial correlation analysis indicated that Rs was the dominant factor in controlling the Bowen ratio. Furthermore, Rs was the major factor controlling LE during the growing season, even in wet years, as indicated by the decoupling coefficient (Ω = 0.45 and 0.39 in wet and dry years, respectively), and the LE / LEeq ratio ranged from 0.81 and 0.68 in wet and dry years, respectively. In general, the dry surface conditions dominated in this poplar plantation ecosystem regardless of soil water availability suggesting that fast-growing and water use-intensive species like poplar plantations are poorly adapted for the water limited region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lanzhou City is located in the semi-arid region of northwest China, which experiences serious desertification. Moreover, the high intensity of land development, with the accelerated industrialization and urbanization, causes increasingly aggravated conflict between humans and the environment. Exploring the response of the ecological environment quality to the natural environment and anthropogenic activities is important to protect the sustainable development of urban economic construction and the environment. Based on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, this paper constructed a modified Remote Sensing Ecological Index (MRSEI) model which could reflect the ecological environment quality by integrating the desertification index (DI) into the Remote Sensing Ecological index (RSEI) model. This paper explores the spatiotemporal variation in the environmental quality from 2000 to 2020 in Lanzhou, China, and analyzes the natural and anthropogenic factors affecting the environment quality in terms of temperature, precipitation, gross domestic product (GDP), land use, night lighting, and population. The results showed that the mean value of MRSEI ranged from 0.254 to 0.400. The area undergoing fast growth in ecological quality was in the northwestern part of Lanzhou, and the area of decrease was in the central part. Various factors have different degrees of influence on the ecosystem, with temperature, precipitation, and land use having a greater impact, and GDP and population having a limited impact. Precipitation and temperature showed a strong impact when interacting with other factors, demonstrating that precipitation and temperature were also key factors affecting MRSEI. Overall, climate change and the implementation of ecological restoration projects have led to an improvement in the quality of the ecological environment in Lanzhou. This study provides a reference for understanding the spatiotemporal changes in the ecological environment in semi-arid Lanzhou and is conducive to formulating proper protection strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ecosystem services provide regulation, provisioning, support, and cultural benefits for human survival, but it needs to be clarified how the trade-off/synergy relationships can be used to optimize function. Based on the Web of Science (WOS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases, we collected 254 articles on the ecosystem trade-offs/synergies and functional optimization. Through a systematic review of the literature, this paper summarized the research progress and landmark achievements from three aspects: trade-offs/synergies, functional optimization, and evaluation methods. The results indicated the following: (1) In terms of the number of articles published, there were no reports before 2005; from 2006 to 2022, the annual number of published papers increased from 1 to 72, showing an overall growth trend year by year. This mainly includes three stages: initial (1970–2005), slow development (2005–2014), and rapid development (2014–2022). (2) In terms of research areas, focus was placed mainly on Asia, North America, and Europe, accounting for 40.47%, 25.55%, and 15.07% of all regions, respectively. (3) In the future, it is necessary to focus on scientific issues such as the improvement of forest ecosystem functions, the trade-off/synergy relationships between services, the scale of spatiotemporal research, and the driving factors and evaluation methods for the management of rocky karst desertification. The aim is to provide a theoretical basis to optimize the forest ecosystem service functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is the main industry in northeast China. As an important part of facility agriculture, agricultural greenhouses are playing a more and more important role. Due to geographical location, Northeast China is cold in winter, and the solar radiation energy is less, therefore, the large-span greenhouses commonly used in northeast China are prone to uneven temperature and insufficient heating. In this paper, in order to solve the phenomenon of uneven air flow field, humidity field and temperature field in greenhouse, based on AIRPAK simulation, four kinds of hot air heating return air modes, such as upper air supply and lower air return mode, lower air supply and upper air return mode, two-side air supply mode and left air supply and right air return mode, we explored the influence of temperature field, humidity field and air flow field in greenhouse. The results showed that the heat load of the greenhouse in winter is 161.51 kW, using two-side air supply mode is the best way. The air supply wind speed is 1.6 m/s, and the return wind speed is 3.1 m/s. The environment of the greenhouse can be maintained at about 15°C day and night, and the relative humidity is relatively uniform. In the crop growing area, the wind speed is between 0 m/s and 0.25 m/s. According to this research, suitable crops can be selected for reasonable planting and distribution in the greenhouse to maximize productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Iraqi Journal of Science is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In order to stop and reverse land degradation and curb the loss of biodiversity, the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development proposes to combat desertification. In this paper, a fractional vegetation–water model in an arid flat environment is studied. The pattern behavior of the fractional model is much more complex than that of the integer order. We study the stability and Turing instability of the system, as well as the Hopf bifurcation of fractional order α , and obtain the Turing region in the parameter space. According to the amplitude equation, different types of stationary mode discoveries can be obtained, including point patterns and strip patterns. Finally, the results of the numerical simulation and theoretical analysis are consistent. We find some novel fractal patterns of the fractional vegetation–water model in an arid flat environment. When the diffusion coefficient, d, changes and other parameters remain unchanged, the pattern structure changes from stripes to spots. When the fractional order parameter, β , changes, and other parameters remain unchanged, the pattern structure becomes more stable and is not easy to destroy. The research results can provide new ideas for the prevention and control of desertification vegetation patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to a mathematical model with diffusion and cross-diffusion to describe the interaction between vegetation and soil water. First, the existence of Hopf bifurcation and cross-diffusion-driven Turing instability are discussed. Then, based on the nonlinear analysis, we obtain the exact parameters range for stationary patterns and show the dynamical behavior near Turing bifurcation point. It is found that the model has the properties of gap, strip and spot patterns. Moreover, the small water-uptake ability of vegetation roots promotes the growth of vegetation and the transitions of vegetation pattern. But with the continuous increase of the water-uptake ability of vegetation roots, the local vegetation biomass density increases and the isolation between vegetation patches also increases, which may induce the emergence of desertification. In addition, our results reveal that the water consumption rate induces the transitions of vegetation pattern and prohibits the increase of vegetation biomass density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, land degradation is becoming a grave concern. Over the years, conditions such as drought, extreme weather events, pollution, changes in land use land cover, and desertification have intensified and led to land degradation, affecting both ecological and economic processes. Equally, during the last two centuries, population and urbanization have amplified manifold and increased the demand for additional food and shelter, resulting in alteration in land use land cover, over-grazing, and over-cultivation, loss of nutrient-rich surface soil, greater runoff from the more impermeable subsoil, and reduced water availability. Geographically, Goa is a highly diversified state. It is sandwiched between the West Coast and the Western Ghats. The state is blessed with beaches, mangroves, backwaters, wetlands, wildlife sanctuaries, evergreen forests, barren lands, and other vital ecosystems. The State of Goa, on average, receives more than 3000 millimeters of rainfall annually with high surface runoff. Using both primary and secondary data, this study sought to investigate and quantify the state's land degradation. Secondary data came from satellites and other sources, while primary data came from field observation and ground truthing. Land degradation factors related to soil loss and the spatial pattern of soil erosion are predicted and evaluated using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) method. Landsat-8 OLI-TIRS images were utilized to decide land use and cover (C factor), while DEM information was utilized to assess (LS factor). A soil map and rainfall data were collected to acquire a better understanding of soil erodibility (K factor) and rainfall erosivity (R factor). The kriging interpolation technique was used to gain a deeper comprehension of land degradation. The purpose of this paper is to comprehend the concept of integrated land degradation and how it affects the environment of Goa. Using remote sensing data and geostatistical methods, the study creates a comprehensive map of land degradation in the region by identifying and analyzing the various forms of land degradation in Goa. The paper also looks at how rainfall and the amount of land cover affect the rate of soil erosion in Goa. According to the findings, intense rainfall makes the eastern part of Goa particularly susceptible to soil erosion, and bare soil has a greater potential for erosion than vegetated land. The paper concludes that comprehensive land degradation mapping can be a useful tool for developing efficient land management strategies to preserve soil and encourage sustainable development in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanding of karst rocky desertification (RD) area in southwestern China has led to destructed ecosystem and local economic development lagging behind. It is important to understand the soil fertility at RD regions for the sustainable management of karst lands. The effects of the succession of RD on soil fertility were studied by investigating the stands and analyzing the soil samples with different RD grades in the central Hunan province, China, using the principal component analysis method. The results showed that the succession of RD had different impacts on soil fertility indicators. The changing trend of total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), available phosphorous (AP), microbial biomass carbon (MBC), and microbial biomass nitrogen (MBN) out of 19 selected indicators in different RD regions was: potential RD (PRD)>light RD (LRD)>moderate RD (MRD)>intensive RD (IRD), whereas the changing trend of other indicators was not entirely consistent with the succession of RD. The degradation trend of soil fertility was basically parallel to the aggravation of RD, and the strength of integrated soil fertility was in the order of PRD>MRD>LRD>IRD. The TOC, total phosphorus (TP), cation exchange capacity (CEC), MBC, MBN, microbial mass phosphorous (MBP), and bulk density (BD) could be regarded as the key indicators to evaluate the soil fertility due to their close correlations to the integrated fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the wide application of remote sensing technology, target detection based on deep learning has become a research hotspot in the field of remote sensing. In this paper, aimed at the problems of the existing deep-learning-based desert land intelligent extraction methods, such as the spectral similarity of features and unclear texture features, we propose a multispectral remote sensing image desert land intelligent extraction method that takes into account band information. Firstly, we built a desert land intelligent interpretation dataset based on band weighting to enhance the desert land foreground features of the images. On this basis, we introduced the deformable convolution adaptive feature extraction capability to U-Net and developed the Y-Net model to extract desert land from Landsat remote sensing images covering the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Finally, in order to analyze the spatial and temporal trends of the desert land in the study area, we used a structural equation model (SEM) to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of natural conditions and human activities, i.e., population density (PD), livestock volume (LS), evaporation (Evp), temperature (T), days of sandy wind conditions (LD), humidity (RH), precipitation (P), anthropogenic disturbance index (Adi), and cultivated land (CL). The results show that the F1-score of the Y-Net model proposed in this paper is 95.6%, which is 11.5% more than that of U-Net. Based on the Landsat satellite images, the area of desert land in the study area for six periods from 1990 to 2020 was extracted. The results show that the area of desert land in the study area first increased and then decreased. The main influencing factors have been precipitation, humidity, and anthropogenic disturbance, for which the path coefficients are 0.646, 0.615, and 0.367, respectively. This study will be of great significance in obtaining large-scale and long-term time series of desert land cover and revealing the inner mechanism of desert land area change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Banni grasslands of Kutch, India, constitute a fragile and diverse ecosystem that faces numerous threats to its existence requiring prompt conservation measures. In the context of conservation efforts, the ecofeminist perspective advocates for the active involvement of women, recognising their unique relationship with nature and the potential for gender-sensitive solutions. This research paper employs an empirical study to provide a critical analysis of the conservation of Banni grassland and reveals an appalling absence of women's participation and representation, which undermines the effectiveness and sustainability of these efforts. Using a critical ecofeminist lens to examine the underlying causes of this exclusion, this research paper delves into the prevalent socio-cultural norms and gender roles that marginalise women by limiting their access to resources, decision-making forums, and knowledge-sharing platforms. This study calls for developing a more holistic and sustainable approach to the preservation of the Banni grasslands by incorporating ecofeminism into conservation measures, thereby enhancing the well-being of the ecosystem and the dependent communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Devising preparedness plans, including means for efficient monitoring and timely identification of drought events, is essential for decision making on drought mitigation and water management. Drought is considered to be among the major natural hazards faced by human society, with significant impacts on environment, society, agriculture and economy stemming from its consequences. The performance of the procedure to estimate drought length was found to be satisfactory up to the truncation level of Q75, whereas the estimation of drought magnitude was rated as good. Sharma and Panu presents a procedure for the estimation of drought magnitude (M), which then forms the basis for estimating the drought duration or length (L). [Extracted from the article]

Dynamic features from remote sensing photos may be successfully extracted using deep learning and symmetric network structure, which can then be used to direct them to carry out accurate classification. The DBN model can more effectively extract features from photos since it uses unsupervised learning. It can be reduced to the many symmetric Restricted Boltmann Machines (RBM) training problem. In this paper, a soil rocky desertification (RD) assessment model based on a deep belief network (DBN) is created in light of the complicated influencing aspects of Karst RD risk assessment encompassing several geographical elements. The model builds upon the conventional RBM framework and incorporates the influence layer of related elements as an auxiliary requirement for retrieving Geographic Information System (GIS) score data. Then, in order to forecast the level of soil rocky desertification, it learns the features of many elements. The experimental results show that the proposed model proposed in this paper has better prediction performance and faster convergence speed, and its classification results for different degrees of RD are more consistent with the actual risk assessment results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As typical of I Restoration Ecology i , the thematic series includes high quality papers that address critical research issues, consider practical solutions, or provide policy guidance for the restoration of arid lands. This issue of I Restoration Ecology i is part of the thematic series on arid land (dryland) restoration. Literature cited 1 Hallett JG, Omar SAS (2020) Restoration ecology of arid lands (RE-AL). [Extracted from the article]

How global warming affects human development is a central question for economists as well as social scientists. While most of the literature has focused on the impact of weather on income, less is known on the relationship between climate and local human development. This paper considers shocks in precipitation, temperature, and an original measure of soil aridity to first exploit the association between climate warming and human development, and second, on its dimensions. We show that while precipitations do not have a significant long-term impact on human development growth, variations in temperature and potential evapotranspiration negatively affect two of the three determinants of the Human Development Index, namely life expectancy at birth and education. These results suggest that other climate indicators, such as the potential evapo-transpiration of the soil, should be considered in addition to the standard indicators, when evaluating the localized economic effects of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global climate has undergone great changes in recent decades, which has a significant impact on the vegetation system, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. Based on a dynamic model, this paper studied the response of vegetation pattern to climate change in Qinghai Lake, a typical semiarid region. The conditions for Turing instability of the equilibrium were obtained by mathematical analysis. The numerical experiments showed the influence of different climitic factors (carbon dioxide concentrations [CO2], temperature and precipitation) on vegetation pattern. The results showed that the robustness of the vegetation system was enhanced as precipitation or [CO2] increased. Furthermore, we presented evolution of vegetation system under different climate scenarios to forecast the future growth of vegetation. We compared the various climate scenarios with representative concentration pathways (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP8.5). The results revealed that RCP2.6 scenario was a desired climate scenario for Qinghai Lake. Our study also highlighted the measures to avoid desertification by the method of optimal control. We expect that this study will provide theoretical basis for vegetation protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desertification-induced conflict involving pastoralists and farmers is primarily driven by competition for water, forage, and land, other factors like ethnicity and religion also come into play. This paper utilizes descriptive analysis and secondary data, adopting the Economic & Migration Theory to explain the issue in the southern frontiers. Findings from the paper show that in the southward frontiers, the conflict has taken a different dimension due to differences in culture and religion. The migration from the core north which has been ravaged by desertification to the south has increased confrontation between these groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the dynamics of ecosystems and their components in connection with the development of the Aral Sea environmental crisis. The theoretical basis of this study was the idea that the vegetation dynamics under the conditions of deltaic landscape desertification represents an anthropogenically-induced natural hologenetic process involving the replacement of vegetation typical for hydromorphic floodplain and reed-bed biotopes with vegetation of semihydromorphic meadow and solonchak biotopes resulting in the formation of zonal vegetation typical for automorphic biotopes. These endo–ecogenetic successions are determined by the directed reduction in moisture supply in biotopes and accompanying salinization and evolution of soils. The changes occur in both successional and catastrophic ways. In the northern, undeveloped part of the Amu Darya River delta, the reduction of the sea water surface and a sharp drop in water reserves resulted by the 1990s in the formation of environmental conditions typical for desert landscapes: the climate parameters and their regime became close to desert ones, while the groundwater level fell to a depth of 5–10 m, thus, making groundwaters inaccessible to plant roots. Reconstruction of the reservoir system and flooding of former marine bays contribute to the formation of hydromorphic conditions on local sites. Geobotanical studies commenced in the Amu Darya River delta in 1979 and involved route surveys and surveys of topo–ecological profiles passing through the main deltaic relief elements (levees, their slopes, and interchannel depressions) were repeated in the monitoring mode in 1985, 1993, and 1999. Route surveys performed in 2017 showed that the current vegetation dynamics stage involves the formation of desert plant communities. Black saxaul (Haloxylon aphyllum (Minkw.) Iljin) first discovered in the Muynak district in 1993 is actively spreading in the most part of the undeveloped delta that has turned into a wasteland after the extinction of common reed (Phragmites australis (Cav.) Trin. ex Steud.) communities in the 1970s–1980s. The desert species Krasheninnikovia ceratoides (L.) Gueldenst. that has invaded degrading tugai and sparse arborescent saltwort (Salsola dendroides Pall.) monocoenoses on takyr solonchak soils around the same years formed extensive thickets north of the city of Kungrad. Observations on topo–ecological profiles made it possible to examine individual changes and stages in more detail. On the right bank of the Akdar'ya River that feeds the Mezhdurechenskoe Reservoir, on the Porlytau topo–ecological profile located 3 km southwest of the upland of the same name, over the course of the 40-year observation period, the river washed away a section of the near-channel floodplain and levee 500 m wide and was incised 9 m into the ground following a drop in the erosion base level (i.e., water level in the eastern part of the Greater Sea) by 26 m. Plant communities successions develop slowly. They follow the path of successional replacement of an arboreal Рoplar tugai (Populus ariana + Populus pruinosa + Elaeagnus angustifolia–Mixteherbosa with a shrubby tugai with Tamarix ramosissima Ledeb. ending in a nearby section of the interchannel depression with a catastrophic change: the death of the Halostachys belangeriana (Moq.) Botsch. community. This community was formed in 1985 as a result of soil salinization in the area previously occupied by reeds. In 2017, a slow surface desalination process that began in 1993 due to the illuviation of salts from upper (0–10 cm) horizons to lower ones continued in the soil at all survey points on the profile. For the first time, the desert shrub species Krasheninnikovia ceratoides (L.) Gueldenst. was recorded on the tugai fringe in 2017; over time, this species will probably colonize this entire site characterized by the profile. In the northeastern part of the delta, on the Kunyadarya topo–ecological profile that begins on the right bank of the dry channel of the same name and descends in the southeastern direction to the coastal plain, a degrading Populus diversifolia-Halimodendron halodendron tugai on the levee is being replaced by a tamarisk tugai, which is indicated by the species composition of the community: Populus diversifolia-Tamarixlaxa + Halimodendron halodendron + T. ramosissima–Atriplex tatarica. In 2017, black saxaul was first recorded in a community formed by tall well-developed tamarisks and succulent saltworts located further along the profile on the levee slope. The profile enters a coastal solonchak plain with a Halostachys belangeriana–Climacoptera aralensis community. The salinity profiles of soils under all plant communities have a similar feature: the salt content reaches its maximum in the upper part of the profile (0–10 cm); then it sharply decreases in the 10–20-cm horizon and does not change down the profile to a depth of 50 cm. Salinity profiles of soils on two sites occupied by the tugai have the maximum similarity. The uppermost (0–5 cm) horizon is less saline or somewhat washed out from salts compared to the deeper (5–10 cm) horizon featuring the maximum salt content. In the Halostachys belangeriana community, the salt content reaches its maximum (8.28%) in the surface soil horizon (0–5 cm), then it sharply decreases to 2% in the 10–20-cm horizon, and further decreases down the profile to almost 1%. The salinity profile under tamarisk communities differs from other profiles: overall, it is slightly saline and has two maxima: mild surface salinity (0.5% at a depth of 0–5 cm) and medium salinity (0.8%) at a depth of 20–30 cm. Salinity profiles of soils on the Kunyadarya topo–ecological profile indicate progressive salinization of soils with a clearly pronounced surface-accumulative profile under the impact of pulsating secondary hydromorphism in this area provoked by water flows from the Dzhiltyrbas Bay towards the sea that occur on a periodic basis. In 2017, a newly-formed young woody tugai on the bank of an irrigation canal crossing the degrading Yerkin tugai was described. It differs from the degrading tugai forests described earlier in its full-fledged structure (it has three storeys) and in richness of its plant species composition (12 species). Two liana species are present, and renewal of predominant tree species occurs. The soil under the young tugai is alluvial–meadow–tugai (hydromorphic); it is slightly saline (0.36%) only in the near-surface horizon (0–5 cm). Comparison of data collected on topo–ecological profiles with data collected in the course of previous observations made it possible for the first time to conclude that the changes of plant associations in woody tugai communities in the undeveloped part of the delta under the desertification conditions occurs mainly in a successional way; while herbaceous and shrub communities, especially halophilic ones and their variants, are characterized by predominantly catastrophic changes. After their death, long-lasting wastelands are formed on lands previously occupied by such communities where favorable conditions for the introduction of species with different ecology are created. In local hydromorphic conditions with floodplain regimes, the formation and existence of tugai plant communities is possible. The practical significance of the results is that they characterize the diversity of environmental conditions and processes currently occurring in the vegetation and landscapes in the undeveloped part of the Amu Darya River delta and can be applied in resource use and biodiversity conservation practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although we are in an era of enormous global commitments to ecological restoration (the UN Decade on ER; the Bonn Challenge), little attention has been paid to the importance of sustained commitment to individual restoration initiatives and few resources have been dedicated to monitoring, especially the long-term and broad-scale evaluations that would allow us to understand how basin-scale restoration can result in complex spatiotemporal patterns. Remote sensing offers a powerful tool for evaluating restoration initiatives focused on water management in arid regions, where changes in vegetation growth can be tracked visually with measures like the generalized difference vegetation index (GDVI). In this paper, we evaluate the Comprehensive Treatment Program of the Shiyang River Basin (CTSRB), a landscape restoration initiative in China's northwest, using a widely available remote sensing tool, showing how it can reveal the causes of fluctuating changes in restoration success. We focus on spatiotemporal variation, studying a time series from 2001 to 2020 using regression, trend, and stability analyses for six different divisions of the study region (the study area as a whole, the irrigated areas, the periphery of the irrigated regions, and the districts of Ba, Quanshan, and Hu) to evaluate the effects of the restoration initiative. The study period was divided into four equal-length phases based on the implementation timeline of the CTSRB, which includes one pre- and post-intervention interval and two stages of the CTSRB. We found that the CTSRB has played a positive role in the restoration of vegetation in the Minqin Basin, especially desert vegetation. However, the positive effects were not obvious in the first CTSRB period, which was characterized by a decline in vegetation growth likely caused by the strategy of "close the pumping-wells, transform the land", which reversed a greening trend caused by the unsustainable irrigation of wasteland prior to the project's initiation. During the second phase of the CTSRB, vegetation in the regions of "transform the land" gradually improved, and the growth of desert vegetation gradually improved and expanded as a result of more water flowing out of agricultural zones. The rate of vegetation recovery slowed down during the final phase of the CTSRB, and some areas even experienced a decline in the GDVI. Overall, our findings show that the CTSRB, by integrating water management and allowing for uninterrupted ecological restoration, drove complex regional changes in the GDVI, including successful restoration of desert vegetation. The spatiotemporal variable we observed underscores the importance of long-term commitment to arid land restoration initiatives and the importance of even longer-term monitoring using tools like remote sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate changes with their effects: floods, drought, desertification affect agricultural production. Likewise, the Agricultural Policies on the European Union, through the Farm to Fork Strategy, propose limiting the amount of fertilizers to improve the quality of the environment. Farmers must adapt and use high-performance technologies to face these challenges. In this context, the study analyses the perception of farmers with large farms regarding the main factors that influence the evolution of agriculture in Romania. According to the survey, the factors that influence the increase in agricultural production are: the use of selected seeds, adapted to the agricultural area where the farm operates, the establishment/expansion of irrigation systems, access to new research in the agricultural field, the increase in the level of training of agricultural personnel, the intensive application of fertilizers and pesticides, easy access to low- cost financing. Regarding the association in agriculture and ecological agriculture adapted to climate change, the farmers' attitude is polarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "counter-trend" of oasification in China's arid and semi-arid regions has attracted widespread attention against the backdrop of the rising global desertification risk, which endangers ecological safety and food security. This paper selects the pertinent literature from the CNKI and the WoS core collection databases and then uses bibliometric methods to comb the current status, key contents, and cutting-edge trends of oasification research. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) Compared to desertification research, research on oasification has not been sufficient and the understanding of oasification has not been raised to the same level of importance as desertification; (2) From the perspective of the literature, the oasification research hotspots have gone through four stages: "spatial and temporal evolution, ecological effects, driving mechanisms and sustainable development paths"; (3) Current research on oasification is mainly focused on the evolution of landscape dynamics, sustainable development, and ecological conservation. Research outlooks are as follows: (1) From the perspective of system theory, we construct a theoretical framework of "man and nature" harmonious community, and systematically study the alternating evolution process of "desert–oasis" in arid and semi-arid regions, and its effects; (2) The synergistic factors, development mechanism and preferred path of oasification sustainable development should be some of the key contents of future research; (3) Oasification management in arid and semi-arid regions is not the opposite of desertification management, and research on the oasification governance system, governance content and governance mechanism is necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the greening of the railway energy supply chain, large-scale photovoltaic power stations will be the best choice to integrate with the railways. Understanding the deposition mechanisms and rules of dust grains on photovoltaic panels is of great guiding significance for the operation of photovoltaic (PV) power stations. In this paper, based on computational fluid dynamics (CFD) combined with the discrete element method (DEM), the dynamic dust deposition process on solar panels was simulated, and the flow field around solar panels and the movement of dust particles in the wind were calculated. The simulation results of clay particles (d = 10 mm) and fine sand particles (d = 100 mm) under different wind speeds showed that the clay particles could follow the air flow properly, and their deposition rate was only 4.6%, while the deposition rate of the fine sand particles was up to 32%, which was determined by the inflow wind speed and cohesion parameters. An image of the non-uniform distribution of particles on the panels was given in this paper for the first time. This will provide a basis for a more accurate assessment of the impact of dust accumulation on PV output in real-world environments. These results provide a critical reference for railway photovoltaic power supply development in desertification areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Semi‐arid and arid landscapes (dry‐lands) cover 41% of the Earth's land surface over five continents. These areas are home to 55% of mammal species. Bats have the second highest species richness among mammals, and, although many species are adapted to arid conditions, they are particularly sensitive in these habitats and require conservation priority.Information on bats in arid and semi‐arid landscapes is scattered, patchy and focused on small‐scale studies; therefore, we undertook a systematic review using the PRISMA protocol to identify the current knowledge status, detect knowledge gaps and propose future research priorities.We analysed 346 published articles and evaluated 40 topics within five topic categories (taxa studied, methodologies used, biology, ecology and conservation). The most commonly studied topic categories were ecology and biology. However, we found a gap in the topic category conservation (including topics such as conservation status and roost conservation). Our network analysis of topics within the categories showed that most ecology papers were focused on distribution, species richness and habitat use.When we analysed keywords, we found that phylogeny, taxonomy and distribution demonstrated relatively high presence. Moreover, comparison of the percentage of studies conducted in dry‐lands and the percentage of land surface area covered by dry‐lands in the continents revealed that dry‐lands in Africa and Australia were especially under‐represented. Our review shows that knowledge of bats in semi‐arid and arid landscapes is biased towards new records of the distribution of species, as well as covering systematic/taxonomic and morphological aspects of bat biology.We suggest that research on conservation measures and guidelines to protect the bat species found in semi‐arid and arid landscapes should be prioritised, together with the sharing of knowledge with local practitioners and the development of citizen science programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land desertification is one of the serious ecological and environmental problems facing mankind today, which threatens the survival and development of human society. China is one of the countries with the most serious land desertification problems in the world. Therefore, it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to carry out accurate identification and monitoring of land desertification and its influencing factors in ecologically fragile areas of China. This is conducive to curbing land desertification and ensuring regional ecological security. Minqin County, Gansu Province, located in northwestern China, is one of the most serious areas of land desertification, which is also one of the four sandstorm sources in China. Based on ENVINet5, this paper constructs a high-precision land desertification identification method with an accuracy of 93.71%, which analyzes the trend and reasons of land desertification in this area, provides suggestions for disaster prevention in Minqin County. and provides a reference for other similar areas to make corresponding desertification control policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Rural depopulation and its consequences is a critical social, economic, labour and environmental issue. Based on diagnoses carried out five years ago in two rural territories of the Valencian Community (Spain) in a situation of demographic desertification, this paper aims to analyse if the evolution of employment and population has become a driving force for local development in both territories. To this end, triangulated analysis has been conducted using statistical sources, a survey of the respective Local Development and Employment Officers (AEDLs) and application of the new READI© methodology—based on a matrix with indicators evaluating the level of convergence of the resources, actors and dynamics available to the territory. The survey and READI© methodology have allowed us to complete sociodemographic analysis of population and employment to identify the causes that explain the similarities and differences between both territories in their capacity to generate local development processes. As a result of this study, some positive trends can be observed in the period encompassing 2017–2022, changing the preceding negative tendency and allowing us to generate a hopeful approach for such territories if local development policies correct the detected imbalances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature cited 1 Hallett JG, Omar SAS (2020) Restoration ecology of arid lands (RE-AL). As typical of I Restoration Ecology i , the thematic series includes high quality papers that address critical research issues, consider practical solutions, or provide policy guidance for the restoration of arid lands. This issue of I Restoration Ecology i is part of the thematic series on arid land (dryland) restoration. [Extracted from the article]

Ecological science focuses on the structure and function of the natural environment. However, the study of ecological environments primarily focuses on single-element research and lacks a comprehensive perspective. To examine ecological environmental trends on different scales, the present paper selected Yunnan Province as the study area. Chemical oxygen demand, rocky desertification, forest coverage, natural disaster data and spatial analysis methods were used to obtain the ecological environmental characteristics of each county and construct a comprehensive evaluation method of the ecological environment. The present paper revealed that the environmental capacity in Yunnan Province was at a moderate level, the ecological environment fragility was remarkable, the significance of the ecological environment was very high, natural disasters occurred frequently, and spatial differentiation between ecological environments was obvious. The province may be divided into three functional areas: the comprehensive-balanced area, the efficiency-dominated area and the environment-dominated area. Central Yunnan was a key development zone and the main area for the manufacturing and service industries, which were built as a modern industrial system in Yunnan Province. The ecological environment in northwestern Yunnan and southern Yunnan is of high significance, and this region was an ecological environment protection area that was important area for the construction of the modern agricultural system in Yunnan Province. To achieve sustainable development of the ecological environment, the spatial characteristics of the ecological environment must be determined at the county scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, microbial mineralization has aroused great attention in soil remediation. The pH is one of the critical factors that control the microbial mineralization process. However, the interaction mechanism between the environment pH and the mineralization process has not been clarified yet. This paper focused on the growth of bacteria, urease activity and the calcium utilization rate. Besides, we detected the particle size distribution, morphological characteristics and the composition of precipitations formed at different pH. Moreover, we evaluated the triaxial compressive strength of sand columns processed by different pH consolidation solutions. Additionally, the volume fraction of precipitations and its spatial distribution in sand columns were analysed by X‐ray CT. The results demonstrated that pH significantly influences the growth of bacteria and urease activity, especially in the bacteria's early growth stage. This paper also indicates that the environmental pH impacts the volume fraction of precipitations, affecting the consolidation properties. We also found a negative correlation between the cohesion and the total volume fraction of precipitations. In contrast, there was a positive correlation between the friction angle and the total volume fraction of precipitations. Moreover, we observed that the precipitations mainly distributed in the pores and throats, increasing the sand particles' roughness. Furthermore, we proposed four cementing models for the spatial relationship between the precipitations and the sand particles, which provides new insight into the consolidation mechanism. This paper guides us to promote this environmentally friendly technology to treat soil liquefaction and desertification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early and reliable detection of land degradation helps policymakers to take strict action in more vulnerable areas by making strong rules and regulations in order to achieve sustainable land management and conservation. The detection of land degradation is carried out to identify desertification processes using machine learning techniques in different geographical locations, which are always a challenging issue in the global field. Due to the significance of the detection of land degradation, this article provides an exhaustive review of the detection of land degradation using machine learning algorithms. Initially, the current status of land degradation in India is presented, along with a brief discussion on the overview of widely used factors, evaluation parameters, and algorithms used. Consequently, merits and demerits related to machine learning-based land degradation identification are presented. Additionally, solutions are prescribed in order to reduce existing problems in the detection of land degradation. Since one of the major objectives is to explore the future perspectives of machine learning-based land degradation detection, areas including the application of remote sensing, mapping, optimum features, and algorithms have been broadly discussed. Finally, based on a critical evaluation of existing related studies, the architecture of the machine learning-based desertification process has been proposed. This technology can fulfill the research challenges in the detection of land degradation and computation difficulties in the development of models for the detection of land degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arabsphere struggles with highly complicated water challenges due to climate change, desertification, coronavirus pandemic, and Russo-Ukrainian War. This paper explores how to build a robust water vision to pave the road to achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the Arabsphere. A sustainable water future (SWF) necessitates an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research strategy. 'Horizon scanning' process (HSP) is one of the promising foresight methodologies. A generic process for "Horizon scanning" has been developed to cope with water crises and challenges. "DEEPEST" holistic framework has been designed to suit both the "Futurology" science and water, environment, and engineering disciplines. "DEEPEST" characterizes Demographics, Ecological, Environmental, Political, Economic, Social, and Technological features. The macro-future factors (MFF) applied in the foresight process (FP) have been presented. The results showed that Water conservation (WC), Circular Water (CW), and Emerging Water Technologies (EWTs) were the main outcomes of the 'Horizon scanning' process (HSP). The paper concluded that the preparing for a sustainable water future (SWF) must be right now and the opportunities range from the deepest water drop to the highest water drop on Earth. The essence of the conclusion is hydrosphere sustainability, particularly in Arabsphere, should be given extreme concentration, effort, and support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]