Victor Roy Squires

The grazing of livestock on arid and hyper-arid rangelands is the dominant land use across much of the Arabian Peninsula, and is a human activity of large historical, cultural, and economical importance. In this perspective, we outline the historical trajectory of pastoralism in the Arabian Peninsula, examine its transformation over the past century, and propose a framework for sustaining this practice amid contemporary environmental and social pressures. Our context is the seven countries that make up the Peninsula, but with an emphasis on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, given its size and geopolitical influence. A substantial part of Arabian rangelands is severely degraded due to overgrazing by goats, sheep and camels. This degradation has been accompanied by declines in customary pastoral and social practices such as al hima , which allowed rangelands to be grazed and managed sustainability for more than a thousand years. Major transformation in current pastoral practices is needed to ensure that Arabian rangelands continue to sustain people and ecosystems into the next century. An important need is to build capacity and capability in organisations and individuals charged with managing rangelands. This requires the establishment of programmes that include, but are not limited to, a greater investment in the science and management of pastoralism, including the need to develop and promote systems to monitor environmental change under different grazing practices. Rangeland management and conservation programmes should also aim to incorporate elements of traditional pastoral systems such as al hima , managed by local herders, to promote a more sustainable utilisation of rangeland resources. Together, it is hoped that these actions will create a core group of local scientists working on local solutions, with a reduced reliance on international experts. Finally, we advocate for a greater strengthening of communal governance of rangeland resources. This should include greater support for pastoral groups to ensure that land management is socially grounded, and co-investment in conservation and pastoralism. By linking science, tradition, and local empowerment, the Arabian Peninsula has the potential to lead a new era of sustainable pastoralism in the world’s arid and hyper-arid rangelands.

This article is a Narrative Review that sieves through available information, summarizes trends and reports on published efforts to minimize the impact of factors contributing to food insecurity in the world’s drylands. Statistical data, comments by specialists (both foreign and domestic) and the results of our own observations are synthesized here. There are three main themes: 1. The policy and practice around the protection of agricultural land and national food security through a series of case studies from Africa. 2. Diverse responses to heightened food safety anxiety associated with climate change and an increasingly disembedded food system and disrupted supply chains. 3. The marginalization of small-scale, including subsistence farmers (and their knowledge) through the vertical integration and modernization of agricultural production. Food security is a major issue in the world’s drylands that occupy over 42% of the land surface. Multiple global stressors of climate change, drought, famine and war make it increasingly difficult to meet the dietary needs of large sections of the population. Here we discuss the nature of food security (and insecurity), its global drivers, and opportunities to enhance food security, with an emphasis on drylands. Examples are drawn largely from the African continent. We show that food security is complex, multi-faceted and largely intractable. Improved food security will require greater integration among sectors involved in food supply, access and availability, sustained involvement by governments and financial institutions to support existing food programs, and a greater emphasis on climate smart agriculture and indigenous knowledge, particularly at the local scale. A multidisciplinary approach is critical, with specialists in food science, agriculture, engineering, logistics and economics all playing a role in tackling this long-standing challenge.

This article is a Narrative Review that sieves through available information, summarizes trends and reports on published efforts to minimize the impact of factors contributing to food insecurity in the world’s drylands. Statistical data, comments by specialists (both foreign and domestic) and the results of our own observations are synthesized here. There are three main themes: 1. The policy and practice around the protection of agricultural land and national food security through a series of case studies from Africa. 2. Diverse responses to heightened food safety anxiety associated with climate change and an increasingly disembedded food system and disrupted supply chains. 3. The marginalization of small-scale, including subsistence farmers (and their knowledge) through the vertical integration and modernization of agricultural production. Food security is a major issue in the world’s drylands that occupy over 42% of the land surface. Multiple global stressors of climate change, drought, famine and war make it increasingly difficult to meet the dietary needs of large sections of the population. Here we discuss the nature of food security (and insecurity), its global drivers, and opportunities to enhance food security, with an emphasis on drylands. Examples are drawn largely from the African continent. We show that food security is complex, multi-faceted and largely intractable. Improved food security will require greater integration among sectors involved in food supply, access and availability, sustained involvement by governments and financial institutions to support existing food programs, and a greater emphasis on climate smart agriculture and indigenous knowledge, particularly at the local scale. A multidisciplinary approach is critical, with specialists in food science, agriculture, engineering, logistics and economics all playing a role in tackling this long-standing challenge.

Sociology is the systematic study of social behaviour and human groups. It focuses primarily on the influence of social relationships upon people’s attitudes and behaviour and on how societies are established and change. As a field of study, sociology has a very broad scope. For the purposes of this commentary, there will be a narrowing to embody the key interactions between people who live, work and recreate in the relatively narrow belt where the land meets the sea. Of course, the full extent of the interactions may be felt far away because rivers and canals link the hinterland with the coastal zone. This paper makes several contributions to the growing body of literature in the application of the tools used by sociologists to assess and evaluate the multi-faceted nature of the trends emerging from the growth and importance of maritime industries and related pursuits along the South China seacoast. Beginning with a very brief history ideas about the land/sea interactions and some analysis of examples of environmental determinism in practice.

This is an analysis of past and on-going ‘land and people’ management issues in China’s extensive rural areas. Both authors draw on more than 20 years’ experience derived from working in China’s arid northwest and on the ‘roof of the world” on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). Worldwide, communities of people have adapted to hot and dry, cold and arid and hot and humid environments. They have shown their adaptability and have made remarkable innovations that enabled them to survive for centuries. But many of the strategies used now, and those unaltered from the past, are inadequate to cope with the fast-changing situation in modern China. The paper is in several parts. We explain some of the terminology around socioenvironmental thinking and its application to the real world with examples from the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau – a vast upland in NW China. An attempt is made to show how a better understanding of the interplay of fast and slow variables can help to ensure conservation (wise use) of natural resources and serve the needs of the land users (mainly semi-nomadic herders of yaks, goats, sheep, camels and horses). We suggest that the term ‘situation betterment’ is a more realistic goal and the ‘solving’ the manifold problems (ecological, legal, economic, political and logistic) that beset land users, administrators, policy makers and the law makers. An explanation of the systems approach and its relevance to socio-environmentalism is offered

In recent years, rural transformation has gradually become the focus of scholars and Governments in the context of global sustainable development; it is of great significance to achieve urban-rural integration and coordinated development through studying the spatial-temporal characteristics and driving mechanism of rural transformation development. The ultimate purpose of our study, which is part of an ongoing major research agenda at the Qinzhou Development Institute within the Bei Bu Gulf University is to better understand the origins of, and trends in, the expansion of rural Industrialization. We focused on south-west China – a region much influenced by the Belt and Road initiative. We reviewed the existing literature on rural industrialization and attempted to explore the advantage of rural over urban industries based on the results of case studies in China (mainly pertaining to the coastal zones of the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas). We examined the crucial characteristics of rural enterprises and entrepreneurs based on micro-level evidence from Guangxi and neigbouring provinces.

This paper with its focus on southwest China with special reference to Guangxi Autonomous region (GZAR) has a threefold contribution to the existing literature. First, it summarizes the salient features of the geography and the determinants of poverty among the various regions of GZAR. Second, we draw attention to land use and land cover change over recent decades and their implications. The nature and extent of natural forest and woodlands, from which most non-wood forest products are derived, and eucalyptus plantations that are a major source of revue for GZAR are summarized. Third, policy syndromes in relation to livelihoods, poverty alleviation policies, ecosystem and biodiversity conservation are examined and policy implications discussed. This paper does not aim to provide definitive answers, yet intends to scrutinize the data and re-examine the trends in the light of three key drivers (population increase, climate change and urbanization) This will be done mainly by reviewing the literature but augmented by our field work. There is an attempt to reach a conclusion about recent developments and make suggestions about counter-measures that could be implemented.

Soil salinity is a major threat to the sustainability of agricultural production systems and has defeated civilisations whenever the cost of remediation exceeded the benefits. Among the reasons for this is the complexity of the plant-water-soil nexus and that the causes of salinity are often separated from the damage in time and space. There have been many activities to address salinity, and while good progress has occurred in commercially attractive irrigation areas, many apparently successful techniques, such as intercropping obligate halophytes with conventional crops, processing halophyte meals for human consumption and new uses for saline waters, have not been taken up, although the benefit in ecological terms is understood. There are limited payments available for some ecosystem services, but these are not yet a very recognised market for land users, whose agency is essential for long term success and addressing this requires institutional evolution. We conclude, from Australian experience, that a more concerted effort, perhaps initiated by a philanthropist, is needed to show merchants and agencies how a range of payments for ecosystem services can be turned into true markets in an aggregate way so the ‘knowledge of what can be done can be transformed into benefit’.

In this paper we examine, against the background of the government’s poverty alleviation agenda, issues that influence (negatively or positively) the widespread adoption of entrepreneurial initiatives by farmers, foresters, fisherman and others that could contribute to defeating poverty. We summarize trends in poverty levels, the inequality ‘gap’ and touch on government-led initiatives. These include inputs to modernize farm equipment, to provide start-up capital to returning entrepreneurial migrant workers and to foster digital marketing of locally produced (but in demand) commodities.

The paper is in several parts. We explain the context of the study area that is characterized by land acquisition and transfer (LAT) by local government (often against the wishes of the local villagers). We report on a methodology that is simple, yet robust, that enables local land users and other interested parties to quantify the social capital of local people in rural and peri-urban areas of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR) and assess the extent to which social capital influences the bargaining power of land users when faced with acquisition of their cropland, grazing land, woodlands, water and other environmental goods and services. Finally, we explore the notion that social capital can be a force to create a more even playing field and influence the outcomes of land grab for industrial, infrastructure and urban development. Interest in the concept of social capital and its application has increased rapidly over the past few years with the realization that social bonds and norms are important for achieving sustainability. Ferdinand Tönnies identified the value of the ideas surrounding social capital as early as 1887, but later scholars gave it a theoretical framework. Social capital implies that there are aspects of social structure and organization that act as resources for individuals, allowing them to realize their personal aims and interests. Often, social capital is defined as trust, norms of reciprocity, and networks among individuals that can be drawn upon for individual or collective benefit. Social capital is different between urbanites and rural dwellers, especially farmers. In this paper, we focus on how social capital serves the interests of individuals or collectives. Social capital based on kinship and geopolitical position plays an important role in affecting rural land transfer. Rural land transfer (also called LAT) is becoming a highly contested matter as China moves to implement its plan to increase the proportion of urban dwellers to 70% by 2030(Ma et al., 2018). Natural capital (a sub-set of social capital) should always be maintained as it is critical to sustainable economic development representing, as it does, a multidimensional concept that mirrors the different frameworks of various scientific disciplines and social groups used in valuing nature. Widespread and rampant LAT that accompanies accelerated economic development in peri-urban and rural areas (Ma et al., 2018) needs to take critical natural capital into account.