Global drylands, covering over 40% of Earth’s land surface, are important among worldwide ecoregions and support large human and livestock populations. However, these ecologically sensitive ecoregions are undergoing a rapid transformation resulting from climate change, socioeconomic and political factors, increases in population, and ever-growing demands for goods and services.
Managing Soil Drought addresses basic processes and provides specific case studies throughout covering the protection, restoration, and sustainable management goals of global drylands under changing and harsh climatic conditions, including fragile and vulnerable ecosystems. The book is written by numerous researchers, academicians, practitioners, advocates, land managers, and policymakers involved in bringing about transformation in these regions important to human and nature. It includes information on basic strategies of sustainable management of global drylands aimed at improving water use efficiency through choosing appropriate species, developing new varieties, using organic and inorganic amendments, and scaling up innovative farming systems.
This volume in the Advances in Soil Sciences series is an essential read for development organizations and policymakers involved in improving crop productivity and sustainability in drought-prone regions; students, researchers, and academicians interested in sustainable management of water resources; and those involved in emerging concepts of regenerative agriculture, agroecology, and conservation agriculture.
Author Biography:
Rattan Lal, Ph.D., is a Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science and Director of the CFAES Rattan Lal Center for Carbon Management and Sequestration at The Ohio State University. He received B.Sc. from PAU, Ludhiana (1963); M.Sc. from IARI, New Delhi (1965); and Ph.D. from OSU, Columbus, Ohio (1968). He was Sr. Research Fellow at University of Sydney (1968-69), soil physicist at IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria (1970-87), and Professor of Soil Science at OSU (1987 to date). He has authored/co-authored about 1,100 refereed journal articles and 575 book chapters; written and edited/co-edited about 110 books; received an Honoris Causa degree from 9 universities throughout Europe, USA, South America, and Asia; the Medal of Honor from UIMP, Santander, Spain (2018); the Distinguished Service Medal of the IUSS (2018); and is fellow of 5 professional societies. Dr. Lal has mentored about 120 graduate students, 185 visiting scholars, and 75 postdoctoral scholar and research scientists. His total citations are about 150,000. He was President of the WASWC (1987-1990), ISTRO (1988-1991), SSSA (2006-2008), and the IUSS (2017-2018). He holds the Chair in Soil Science and is the Goodwill Ambassador for Sustainability Issues for IICA, member of the 2021 U.N. Food System Summit Science Committee and Action Tracks 1 & 3, and member of the U.N. Food System Summit Coordination Hub (2023). Dr. Lal is laureate of the GCHERA World Agriculture Prize of Nanjing, China (2018); Glinka World Soil Prize of FAO, Rome (2018); Japan Prize of Tokyo, Japan (2019); U.S. Awasthi IFFCO Prize of New Delhi, India (2020); Arrell Global Food Innovation Award of Guelph, Canada (2020); World Food Prize of Des Moines, Iowa (2020); India’s Padma Shri Award from the President of India (2021). He is an honorary member of the Moldova Academy of Sciences (2022), and a member of the Academia Europaea (2022). He received the Presidential Award of SSSA (2022), and the IPCC-Nobel Peace Prize Certificate (2007). The PAU, Ludhiana, named its Soil Science and Agronomy as Rattan Lal Laboratories in 2020.
