Global Change and Its Consequences for the World’s Arid Lands

The world’s arid lands are living example of nature/culture dynamics in the face of global changes in both their biophysical and sociocultural environments. These water-stressed biomes are inherently vulnerable to environmental challenges on any scale and from whatever source. This vulnerability is being subjected to a veritable barrage of stresses that are truly global in their range and influences. Yet even while they are attempting to rectify the consequences of these past efforts to increase the productivity of their lands, or at least to adapt to them in the face of a changing climate, they are coming under pressure to respond to further global challenges. The arid lands provide a rich focus for exploring the nature and consequences of many of these changes. The crux of the argument presented here is that the situation is now so dire that nothing less than a major change in the prevailing worldviews and thus in the dominant paradigm that they inform is essential.