Vetiver Grass
Vetiver Grass

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1993-02-01

Total Pages: 186

ISBN-13: 0309042690

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For developing nations, soil erosion is among the most chronic environmental and economic burdens. Vast amounts of topsoil are washed or blown away from arable land only to accumulate in rivers, reservoirs, harbors, and estuaries, thereby creating a double disaster: a vital resource disappears from where it is desperately needed and is deposited where it is equally unwanted. Despite much rhetoric and effort, little has been done to overcome this problem. Vetiver, a little-known tropical grass, offers one practical and inexpensive way to control erosion on a huge scale in both humid and semi-arid regions. Hedges of this deeply rooted species catch and hold back sediments while the stiff foliage acts as a filter that also slows runoff and keeps moisture on site. This book assesses vetiver's promise and limitations and identifies places where this grass can be deployed without undue environmental risk.

Biodiversity
Biodiversity

Author: National Academy of Sciences/Smithsonian Institution

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1988-01-01

Total Pages: 535

ISBN-13: 0309037395

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This important book for scientists and nonscientists alike calls attention to a most urgent global problem: the rapidly accelerating loss of plant and animal species to increasing human population pressure and the demands of economic development. Based on a major conference sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution, Biodiversity creates a systematic framework for analyzing the problem and searching for possible solutions.

The Diversity of Life
The Diversity of Life

Author: Edward O. Wilson

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 9780393319408

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This classic by the distinguished Harvard entomologist tells how life on earth evolved and became diverse, and now, how diversity and life are endangered by us, truly. While Wilson contributed a great deal to environmental ethics by calling for the preservation of whole ecosystems rather than individual species, his environmentalism appears too anthropocentric: "We should judge every scrap of biodiversity as priceless while we learn to use it and come to understand what it means to humanity." And: "Signals abound that the loss of life's diversity endangers not just the body but the spirit." This reprint of the 1992 Belknap Press publication contains a new foreword. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Vetiver Grass
Vetiver Grass

Author: John C. Greenfield

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 1990

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 9780821314050

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This handbook has been prepared to support fieldworkers and farmers in developing vegetative systems of soil and mositure conservation that will meet the requirements of small farmers in developing countries, most of whom reside in the tropics and semitropics. Experience has shown that conventional systems of earth bunds or terraces on small farms are expensive and in many cases, especially in modern times, ineffective. When applied correctly, vegetative systems of soil and mositure conservation - particulary the system of hedges of vetiver grass described in this handbook - have proved cheaper and more effective.

New Seeds and Poor People
New Seeds and Poor People

Author: Michael Lipton

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2010-11-29

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 1136891560

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First published in 1989, this book deals with the impact of cereal production upon the Third World, specifically ‘Modern Varieties’ (MVs). Using evidence from plant breeding, economics and nutrition science, the authors seek to pinpoint what has been achieved, what has gone wrong and what needs to be done in future. Although the technical innovations of MVs mean more employment, cheaper food and less risk for small farmers, the reduction in crop diversity increases the risk of danger from pests and though MVs enlarge cereal stocks, many are too poor to afford them. The book concludes that technical breakthroughs alone won’t solve deep-rooted social problems and that only new policies and research priorities will increase the choices, assets and power of the rural poor.

Textbook of Biodiversity
Textbook of Biodiversity

Author: K V Krishnamurthy

Publisher: CRC Press

Published: 2003-01-10

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 1482280183

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A comprehensive text and reference book covering all the aspects of biodiversity science for students and researchers of biodiversity, plant science, biotechnology, as well as zoology.