Knowledge Management Center on Combating Desertification opens in China

DESERTIFICATION

06/12/2019
 UNCCD News
https://www.unccd.int/news-events/knowledge-management-center-combating-desertification-opens-china

Yinchuan, China – The new International Knowledge Management Center on Combating Desertification opened on 5 December during the International Seminar on Desertification Control Technologies and Practices in the city of Yinchuan, Ningxia Autonomous Region, China.

The center is the result of cooperation between UNCCD and China under the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with Ningxia Forestry Grassland Administration as one of the projects to implement the Ordos Declaration ofUNCCD COP13. The goal of the MOU is tostrengthen international cooperation by sharing technologies and experiences in combating land degradation, desertification and drought, as well as tosupport capacity development of affected developing countries.

The seminar, which attracted 100 participants from 15 African and Asian countries, featuredvegetation cover restoration approaches and forest shelter-belt construction techniques developed in the Ningxia and other affected areas of China to address desertification.Participants agreed that this expertise can become a valuable addition…

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World Soil Day: Addressing erosion to ensure food security

DESERTIFICATION

December 4, 2019
 in News – By Onyedi Ojiabor
https://thenationonlineng.net/world-soil-day-addressing-erosion-to-ensure-food-security/

Soils are essential to achieve food security and eradicate hunger, food security and nutrition rely on healthy soils which are the foundation of our food systems. JULIANA AGBO in this piece examines stakeholders opinions on the best way to ensure healthy soils and food safety.

Every year, stakeholders converge globally to celebrate World Soil Day on December 5, a day established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to raise awareness about the importance of soil quality for food security, healthy ecosystems and human well-being.

Soil is the main resource base and the most productive natural capital for many people in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially for the rural population.

According to report by Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), about two million people still suffer from lack of nutritional deficiencies.

It said soils are…

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Scientists Show Humans May Share a ‘Musical Grammar’

From Smithsonian Magazine by Theresa Machemer

“No matter where you are, a bop is a bop. Whether a melody makes people get up and dance, soothes their sadness, fall in love, or lull them to sleep, similar rhythms and tones make music a universal language, as the saying goes. Now, there might be science to back it up.

 

To better understand the similarities in music that could provide insight into its biological roots, a team of researchers focused on music with lyrics. They started by looking at ethnographic descriptions of music in 315 cultures worldwide, all of which featured vocal music, before analyzing musical recordings from 60 well-documented cultures, according to a study published in the journal Science.”

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/scientists-show-humans-may-share-musical-grammar-180973653/

 

School bullying and bare life: Challenging the state of exception (2019)

Foucault News

Horton, Paul
School bullying and bare life: Challenging the state of exception
EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY, Volume: 51 Issue: 14 Pages: 1444-1453

DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2018.1557043

Despite a vast amount of research into school bullying and the widespread implementation of anti-bullying policies and programs, large numbers of students continue to report that they are routinely subjected to bullying by their peers. In this theoretical article, I argue that part of the problem is that there has been a lack of critical discussion of the theoretical foundations upon which such studies are based. Drawing on recent theoretical contributions within the field of school bullying, the work of anthropologist James C. Scott, and the work of philosophers Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, I take particular issue with the notion of power that has long been a foundational pillar of bullying definitions. Utilizing a Foucauldian understanding of power, I argue that rather than focusing on…

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INTEGRATED REMOTE SENSING APPROACH TO DESERTIFICATION MONITORING IN THE CROP-RANGELAND AREA OF YOBE STATE, NIGERIA

DESERTIFICATION

Integrated Remote Sensing Approach to Desertification Monitoring _Musa, Shaib_.doc

Journal of Sustainable Development in Africa (Volume 12, No.5, 2010)

ISSN: 1520-5509

Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, Pennsylvania

INTEGRATED_REMOTE_SENSING_APPROACH_TO_DE.pdf

Microsoft Word – Integrated Remote Sensing Approach to Desertification Monitoring _Musa, Shaib_.doc

Haruna D. Musa and Bukar Shaib

Microsoft Word – Integrated Remote Sensing Approach to Desertification Monitoring _Musa, Shaib_.doc

ABSTRACT

One of the most important recent issues facing Yobe State, North Eastern Nigeria, as well as Sub-Saharan Africa, is
the threat of continued land degradation and desertification as a result of climatic factors and human activities.
Remote sensing and satellites imageries with temporal and synoptic view, play a major role in developing a global and
local operational capability for monitoring land degradation and desertification in dry lands, as well as in Yobe State.
The process of desertification in Yobe State, especially in Yusufari, Nguru, Karasuwa, and Bade areas, has increased
rapidly…

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Butterflies, lobsters threatened by climate change

Dear Kitty. Some blog

This 18 July 2014 video from England says about itself:

One of Britain’s rarest butterflies, the Silver-studded Blue, is being reintroduced on National Trust land at Black Down, West Sussex, in a bid to help safeguard its future.

The Silver-studded Blue has declined rapidly over the past few decades and can now only be seen in small colonies on heathland in the south of England and on some coastal limestone grasslands and dune systems.

Black Down was identified as a suitable habitat for the Silver-studded Blue following a heathland restoration project which took 12 years to complete. Carried out by National Trust rangers and volunteers, the work restored the land to open heath complete with a canvas of purple heather attracting walkers who can experience uninterrupted views across the South Downs.

From the University of York in England:

Scientists identify British butterflies most threatened by climate change

October 24…

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Lava flows on Venus suggest that the planet was never warm and wet

Tallbloke's Talkshop

Venus
As usual the ‘runaway greenhouse effect’ theory rears its ugly head, and the event that supposedly led to it ‘forced massive amounts of CO² into the atmosphere’. But the huge atmospheric pressure of Venus (> 90 times that of Earth’s surface), combined with its being nearer to the Sun than Earth, can adequately explain the observed temperatures.

A new study on the volcanic highlands of Venus casts doubt on whether the planet ever had oceans, reports Universe Today.
– – –
Venus is often referred to as “Earth’s sister planet“, owing to the number of similarities between them.

Like Earth, Venus is a terrestrial (aka. rocky) planet and it resides with our Sun’s Circumstellar Habitable Zone (CHZ). And for some time, scientists have theorized that billions of years ago, Venus had oceans on its surface and was habitable – aka. not the hot and hellish place it is…

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