Cambridge Prisms: Drylands – understanding and protecting the world’s most fragile landscapes
24 October 2024
Last update: 24/10/24 16:12
This week sees the launch of Cambridge Prisms: Drylands – a multi-disciplinary journal aimed at understanding and protecting the world’s most arid landscapes.
These fragile landscapes account for 40% of the global terrestrial area, 30% of our world’s livestock and 35% of all terrestrial carbon fixation – so achieving sustainability for the world’s drylands is a crucial step towards the future health of our planet. Key concerns include conflict over water resources, encroachment, migration, and land degradation.
The journal, published by Cambridge University University Press as part of its Cambridge Prisms series, is led by co-Editors-in-Chief Professor David Eldridge of the University of New South Wales in Australia, and Professor Osvaldo Sala of Arizona State University in the USA. The journal aims to provide a forum for high-impact, multi-disciplinary science and management of the world’s drylands. Globally relevant perspectives, reviews and original research will be published on all topics associated with natural sciences, social sciences, and engineering.
Prof Eldridge said: “There’s something amazing about deserts, about wide open spaces and the relative tranquillity you find there – but I’m keenly aware of the ecological and environmental issues facing them. There are plenty of journals that write about issues within a drylands theme, but there is no real home for scientific papers on drylands and how they are managed. I hope that Prisms: Drylands can truly advance our understanding of these areas of the globe and improved their management.”
Prof Sala added: “Prisms: Drylands will contribute to the overall understanding of global drylands. Moreover, given the drylands’ enormous share of the global function, the journal will be central to the understanding of the functioning of our planet and its response to global changes. The journal will be read by a broad range of individuals from those interested in understanding the functioning of drylands to those interested in devising solutions to achieving sustainable drylands.”
The Editors-in-Chief are inviting submissions to Cambridge Prisms: Drylands.
Article Processing Charges will be waived for content submitted before 19th January 2025.
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