Thesis Abstract

How can degraded soils be regenerated to protect to facilitate ecological health and continued human habitation in places of declining biotic diversity and ecosystem performance. Through a survey of case studies, reviewing different conditions that lead to soil degradation, I will look specifically at the patterns of human land use that negatively impact soil quality, the processes that exacerbate these impacts and the mitigation approaches that are being enacted and proposed in order to understand how different mitigation approaches function and assess their potential for success.

The problem of soil degradation carries with it significant global socio-political and environmental consequences. The lives of millions of people, the fates countless species and habitats as well as the trajectory of global climate change are all dependent on the success of these efforts to restore degraded soils.

Desertification of the Gobi in Mongolia