Hello Balaji Interesting that you should mention Prosopis and the HDRA. I worked with them on this and other things in the early 90s. Phil Harris was in charge of the desert trees project then, though it was initiated by Lawrence D. Hills, the founder of the HDRA. Good work:
http://journeytoforever.org/tree_hdra.html Trees for deserts: Overseas Projects, Henry Doubleday Research Association, Annual Report 1990: Journey to Forever (I wrote their annual report for them too...) >Hello Keith, > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Keith Addison" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> >Sent: Sunday, August 22, 2004 9:28 AM >Subject: [biofuel] 4x4s replace the desert camel and whip up a worldwide >dust storm > > > > http://www.guardian.co.uk/waste/story/0,12188,1286963,00.html > > Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | > > > > 4x4s replace the desert camel and whip up a worldwide dust storm > > > > Winds carrying 3bn tonnes a year threaten environment and human health > > > > Paul Brown, environment correspondent > > Friday August 20, 2004 > > The Guardian > ><snip> > >One way of arresting the spread of deserts, whether by dust storms or >otherwise, is to plant hardy species such as Prosopsis Juliflora, Prosposis >Cineraria, Simarunba Glauca etc.. Notable succcess has been achieved in >stemming the spread of the Rann of Kutch using Prosposis Spp. > >http://www.hdra.org.uk/cgi-bin/countlink.cgi%3Fwww.hdra.org.uk/pdfs/internat >ional_programme/ManagingProsopisManual.pdf >(The link is no longer active.) Balaji, do you have a copy of that pdf? If so, would you be kind enough to send it to me offlist? >"Box 2. Prosopsis advancement in Kutchh. >The State Forest Department of Gujarat initially planted exclusively P. >juliflora on about 31,550 ha of Banni grasslands of Kutchh to check >the advancement of Rann. The prevailing conditions in Banni, including >successive droughts, increasing salinity and excessive grazing >pressure, provided a highly suitable environment for the growth and >spread of the hardy P. juliflora, which is today a dominant species of >the vegetation complex. In fact, it ranks first in terms of distribution, >abundance and aggressive encroachment of rangelands. It has been >reported that the area under P. juliflora has increased from 378 to >684 km2 (an 81% increase) in 12 years (i.e. 1980-1992). Analysis of >remote sensing data clearly stated that the species is expanding in >the Banni area at a rate of about 25 km2 per year." > >I visited it years back and it was a desolate and hard place then. Life >there involved heart and knuckle breaking effort and just to get cooking >water the womenfolk had to walk several km in the hot desert sun. I received >recent feedback that the areas where the desert had been halted were at >least more livable. > >It also provides economic and employment benefits : > >"Box 29. Prosopis management in Kutchh. >The arid zone of Gujarat, covers an area of 62,180 km2, of which Kutchh >district accounts for 73%. The entire area in this district is full of P. >juliflora. Gujarat State Forest Development Corporation (GSFDC) >has been using this species for 15 years for the benefit of rural >communities. During the last five years GSFDC collected 400 t honey, >15 t bee wax, 57 t grade-I gum and 716 t grade-II gum from P. juliflora >thickets and woodlands. These activities of GSFDC generated >employment for local people, especially rural folk to the tune of 0.72 >million man-days. Thus P. juliflora in Kutchh area is the major source >of livelihood to villagers." > >i hope to be able to some power genreation in this area in the near future Please keep us advised. You might also be interested in this - in the approach perhaps more than the species mentioned (you know of the NewCrop and Plants For A Future databases after all): Tree Crops: A Permanent Agriculture by J. Russell Smith http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library.html#treecrops There are a lot of resources on deserts in this previous message: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/BIOFUEL/33769/ Best wishes Keith ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. Get it for free! http://us.click.yahoo.com/L5YrjA/eSIIAA/yQLSAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
