Intro -- Contents -- Notes on Contributors -- List of Illustrations and Tables -- Foreword. Troy Sternberg and Lisa Mol -- 1. Introduction. Andrew Goudie -- Part I. CHANGING ENVIRONMENT -- 2. Shedding light on the past: records of past conditions in the Namib Desert and the use of luminescence dating. Abi Stone -- 3. Soil organic carbon and soil respiration in deserts: Examples from the Kalahari. Andrew D. Thomas, Stephen R. Hoon, Helen Mairs and Andrew J. Dougill -- 4. Hominin evolutionary history in the Arabian Desert and the Thar Desert. Michael D. Petraglia, Huw Groucutt and James Blinkhorn -- 5. Can carbon finance enhance desert afforestation and serve smallholders' needs? Henri Rueff and Moshe Schwartz -- PART II. CHANGING PEOPLE -- 6. 'Saharan waterscapes': Traditional knowledge and historical depth of water management in the Akakus Mountains (SW Libya). Savino di Lernia, Isabella Massamba N'siala and Andrea Zerboni -- 7. Karez versus tubewell irrigation: Comparative social acceptability and practicality of sustainable groundw ater development in Balochistan, Pakistan. Daanish Mustafa and Usman Qazi -- 8. Living off uncertainty: The intelligent animal production of dryland pastoralists. Saverio Krätli and Nikolaus Schareika -- 9. Authenticity in the desert landscapes of Oman: The Jiddat-il-Harasiis, Oman. Dawn Chatty -- 10. Pristine wilderness, participatory archaeology and the custodianship of heritage in Mursiland. Marcus W. R. Brittain and Timothy A. R. Clack -- Part III. CHANGING PROBLEMS -- 11. Conserving history in changing arid environments: A geomorphological approach. Lisa Mol and Heather Viles -- 12. Water in the desert: Applying Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) lessons for climate change in arid lands. Katherine Crowley and Ilan Kelman -- 13. Hazard impact on desert environments. Troy Sternberg.

14. Knowledge systems have not served the drylands well: Reflections on stakeholder interactions. Michael Mortimore -- 15. Human-environment interactions: The invasion of Prosopis Juliflora in the drylands of Northeast Ethiopia. Simone Rettberg and Detlef Müller-Mahn -- CONCLUSIONS -- 16. Desert diversity and challenges. David S.G. Thomas -- Index.