Desertification seen through the eyes of a group of international students

Farshad, Abbas; Shrestha, Dhruba Pikha; Abdelfattah, Mahmoud Ali

doi:10.21608/ifjsis.2024.282117.1074

Desertification seen through the eyes of a group of international students

Document Type : Original full papers (regular papers)

Authors

¹ Faculty of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands

² Soils and Water Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, PO Box 63514 Fayoum, Egypt.

10.21608/ifjsis.2024.282117.1074

Abstract

Desertification is one of the most serious environmental problems worldwide, with its impacts manifesting locally meaning that causes, natural as well as human-induced, vary not only country-wise but also within the country depending on the physiography and the socio-cultural-political structure. The inherent ecological fragility of resources, the adverse climatic conditions, and the severe recurrent drought deserve more attention with the upcoming problem of global warming. Let’s not forget that we (the human being) are not only the ‘victim’ but also the ‘main agent’ of land degradation, with the simple reason that even when the natural factors would not be favourable, this is we (human being) who is the manager. The purpose of this paper is multiple, namely, to keep up with remembering the vitality of desertification; to hear how the people in the vulnerable countries experience and cope with it; to conceptualize the situation in different countries (of the participants); and to make eventually an attempt to digitize its assessment in Geographic Information System (GIS) environment. Many specialists, worldwide, have been researching degradation and desertification and published the results as journal articles and in books and/or reports that have been sent to the responsible departments in the country but whether their works have ever reached the decision makers in the government, and to what extent are they executed? We tried in a three-week workshop to hear the viewpoints (by means of writing essay) of a group of international university students (all holders of Bachelor and higher degrees) on this issue.

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