Thumbnail Image

Sand and dust storms

A guide to mitigation, adaptation, policy and risk management measures in agriculture

Year of publication 2023

Place of publication Rome, Italy ;

Pages 150 p.

Author FAO

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Book (stand-alone)

ISBN 978-92-5-138219-6

Synopsis (short abstract) Sand and dust storms (SDS) are common in drylands with dust often transported over great distances, frequently across international boundaries. Such storms are important for ecosystem functioning, but they also create numerous hazards to society, in agriculture and other socioeconomic sectors. The yields and productivity of crops, trees, pastures and livestock are adversely affected by SDS. With climate change it is expected that droughts and land use changes will increase the frequency and risk of SDS. While agriculture is a major driver of SDS, agriculture is impacted by SDS and it is also part of the solution to combat SDS risks and mitigate their impacts. This guide aims to provide an overview of sand and dust storms and the impacts on agriculture and food systems. It gives a review of how agriculture can create SDS sources and highlights the impacts of SDS on agricultural production in source and deposition areas. It includes a range of high-impact, location- and context-specific practices to reduce SDS source and impacts on agriculture subsectors at local level, comprising technical and non-technical interventions. Moreover, it assesses how SDS risk is addressed at the policy level and discusses options for integrating SDS at national and regional levels into multi-hazard disaster risk reduction (DRR) and disaster risk management (DRM) strategies or sectoral development programmes, followed by conclusions and recommendations. Urgent action must be taken now. Short-term responses need to be linked to long-term development actions to enhance combating SDS. The adverse impacts of SDS are likely to become even more severe in the future, particularly due to climate change, unless appropriate interventions are made.

Cite this content as:

FAO. 2023. Sand and dust storms - A guide to mitigation, adaptation, policy and risk management measures in agriculture. Rome.


https://doi.org/10.4060/cc8071en

Read on Google Books and buy online

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    Preparing for sand and dust storm contingency planning with herding communities
    A case study on Mongolia
    2023
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This report outlines the conceptual framework for sand and dust storms (SDS) hazard risk and vulnerability assessment and mapping in agriculture and provides the elements as part of SDS contingency planning process in agriculture in Mongolia. Its main purpose is to provide an applicable procedure to reduce SDS risk and impacts on agriculture. This is the first attempt to develop a contingency plan for SDS risk reduction in agriculture. It includes a set of agriculture-specific indicators proposed to assess SDS risk and discusses the required steps for developing indicators and procedures. Furthermore, a methodology for SDS contingency planning in agriculture is described, including the legal and institutional frameworks in Mongolia relevant to SDS intervention as well as the organizational responsibilities for implementing the contingency plan. It reviews the main action areas and challenges to be addressed in SDS contingency planning in agriculture for two rural districts or soums (Saintsagaan soum of Dundgobi province and Zamyn-Uud soum of Dornogobi province). It provides an action framework for the identification and fine-tuning of SDS priority actions to be addressed and integrated into existing national and local SDS disaster risk reduction/management plans and/or sectoral development plans in Mongolia. Mongolia is highly impacted by sand and dust storms (SDS), particularly livestock herding. Reducing risks and mitigating the adverse effects of SDS on agriculture remains very important as the country is highly dependent on the sector. With climate change, it is expected that droughts and land use changes will increase the frequency and severity of SDS risks. Hence, urgent action is needed, whereby short-term responses are required to be linked to long-term development actions for building resilience against SDS.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Book (stand-alone)
    Contingency planning process for catalysing investments and actions to enhance resilience against sand and dust storms in agriculture in the Islamic Republic of Iran 2023
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This report outlines the conceptual framework for sand and dust storms (SDS) hazard risk and vulnerability assessment and mapping in agriculture and provides the elements as part of SDS contingency planning process in agriculture in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Its main purpose is to provide an applicable procedure for using web-based data to reduce SDS risk and impacts on agriculture. This is a first attempt to develop a contingency plan for SDS risk reduction in agriculture using freely available remote sensing imagery and geographic information system (GIS) modeling. It includes a set of agriculture-specific indicators proposed to assess SDS risk and discusses the required steps for developing indicators and procedures. Furthermore, a methodology for SDS contingency planning in agriculture is described, including the legal and institutional frameworks in the Islamic Republic of Iran relevant for SDS intervention as well as the organizational responsibilities for implementing the contingency plan. It reviews the main action areas and challenges to be addressed in SDS contingency planning in agriculture for Ahvaz County. It provides an action framework for the identification and fine-tuning of SDS priority actions to be addressed and integrated into existing national and local SDS disaster risk reduction/management plans and/or sectoral development plans in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Due to the central position of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the global dust belt, it is highly impacted by sand and dust storms (SDS). Mitigating the adverse effects of SDS on agriculture remains very important as the country is highly dependent on the sector and the sector is both an anthropogenic driver of SDS as well as the yields and productivity of crops, trees and pastures are negatively impacted by SDS. With climate change it is expected that droughts and land use changes will increase the frequency and severity of SDS risks. Hence, urgent action is needed, whereby short-term responses require to be linked to long-term development actions for building resilience against SDS.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Sand and dust storms (SDS): A transboundary issue of growing concern 2022
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Sand and Dust Storms are complex environmental phenomena, the result of a series of interlinked natural and anthropogenic drivers operating at different scales. They have gained growing attention in the past decade due to their impacts on the environment and a range of socioeconomic sectors. SDS result in land degradation and production losses on croplands and rangelands. Transport is disrupted by reduced visibility and sand deposits that block roads. There are numerous impacts on health – for people, plants and animals – and dust deposited on solar panels results in less electricity being produced. Economic losses from a single SDS event can cost hundreds of millions of US dollars.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.