Dry Land Belt of Northern Eurasia: Contemporary Environmental Changes

摘要: The Dry Land Belt (DLB) of Northern Eurasia is the largest contiguous dryland on Earth. Changes in DLB during last century have included resource extraction (e.g., coal, oil, gas, and mineral ores), rapid land cover use change expansion irrigated croplands cities), institutional shifts collapse Soviet Union, China’s entry to World Trade Organization), global regional climatic changes, natural disturbances wildfire, drought, dust). These factors intertwine, overlap, sometimes mitigate but feedback each other exacerbating their synergistic cumulative effects. Thus, it important document properly key external internal characterize structural relationships among them study better approaches alleviating negative consequences these environmental changes. This chapter addresses changes observed over recent decades outlines possible linkages with contemporary human activities within DLB.