After every Conference of Parties (COP), the negotiations and deliberations on the affairs of the Convention (be it the UNFCCC, UNCCD or UNCBD), a “declaration” is released that outlines the decisions taken by the “parties” (the countries) that are signatory to the Convention and have participated in the […]
When we talk about remediation of impacts of human activities, it will always have two aspects: recovering what is lost and preventing what is left from permanent loss. Recovering what is lost comes under the banner of restoration ecology. Prevention of loss, on the other hand, is the […]
Rangelands are grasslands heavily used for the purpose of meeting animal farm requirements. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is these lands that are heavily affected by overgrazing. I’ve written extensively about the role overgrazing plays in land degradation. Let’s now look at what we can do […]
Minespoils are one of the most degraded bits of land to have been generated by human activity. Even nature thinks so. Why do I say that? Because if nature was to restore a minespoil at her own pace, it would take centuries for her to bring back a […]
In a previous post, I suggested how land degradation can be overcome by 10 simple and effective management practices. However, these steps are mostly to prevent further land degradation. What to do when faced with a piece of land that is already degraded? How is it restored to […]
Just as environmental and ecological effects have multiple dimensions of impact, so should its conservation and restoration efforts. Environmental degradation does not just affect people causing it; it affects everyone from the people living there to the people who come in contact with the polluted agents. That is […]
Restoration ecology is an up and coming field with a huge number of applications. Sites ranging from minespoils, degraded rangelands, wastelands and floodplains have been recognized with immediate need for ecological restoration. But essentially, the blueprint for the restoration project remains the same. What is that?
Let’s start with the bad news. Researchers for the last decade have been coming up with different climate change models and predicting when we will cross the point-of-no-return; the point once crossed, cannot reverse or reduce the impact of climate change anymore. Different researchers have come up with […]
