Professor David Eldridge, joint Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge Prisms: Drylands, tells of his passion for the protection and management of these fragile ecosystems

“There’s something amazing about deserts, about wide open spaces and the relative tranquillity you find there,” says Professor David Eldridge.

“Whenever I go back to my study areas in western New South Wales, Australia, I feel really centred and calm; it’s these places, my special places, where I get to think about new ideas or contemplate where my life is heading. Deserts and drylands, to me, are very calming.”

But despite his love of these areas, which cover huge areas of the globe and support some 40% of the world’s population, David is keenly aware of the ecological and environmental issues facing them – and that is what will drive and inspire his tenure as joint Editor-in-Chief of Cambridge Prisms: Drylands, which launches this month.

Drylands aims to be a forum for rapid publication of cross-disciplinary science relating to the challenges of managing the world’s drylands. Under David’s leadership, along with Professor Osvaldo Sala of Arizona State University, it will provide a home for high-impact, globally relevant reviews and original research on all topics associated with the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities, and management of global drylands.

David studied agricultural science at university and joined the New South Wales Soil Conservation Service after graduating. Then, 10 years into his career, he took a year off and did a masters degree using data that he had been collecting over the preceding three years. A PhD followed 10 years later, and he has been carrying out research ever since.

Taking the wider view

There are many concerns about drylands, says David, with most of the rhetoric revolving around problems: conflict over water resources, encroachment, migration, and land degradation.

“The list goes on,” he continues. “In my mind the biggest concern is how we are going to feed the 40% of the world that live in our drylands. Sure, there are new technologies, things that will improve dryland management, but the central issue is how to survive in a landscape that will become more hostile, both from climate and human conflict, and an increasingly marginalised group of people.

“I am an ecologist, and I’m cognisant of the ecological and environmental issues that drylands face, but I think that the social issues are the ones that will take the most effort.”

The multidisciplinary nature of the Prisms series of journals from Cambridge University Press is crucial to impact that Prisms: Drylands will have, says David: “One of the things that we hope we can do is to better integrate social and environmental solutions to improve dryland environments, both for people and organisms.

“Managing drylands is multidisciplinary, and our drylands journal aims to take a multidisciplinary approach rather than just looking at individual issues. Sure, our journal will have lots of papers on ecological or environmental issues associated with drylands, but unlike other single theme journals, we are hoping to integrate multiple themes that improve how drylands are managed.

He continues: “It is critical that if this journal is to be successful, it needs to cover multiple themes and dimensions – and, as I indicated above, embracing social issues associated with drylands is critical. Many management actions made by pastoralists are not made on environmental or economic grounds. They are often culturally based. We need to think more closely about the impediments to better management of drylands and often these are cultural or political impediments rather than economic or environmental.”

An ongoing dedication

With a continuing passion for drylands and a love of his work in the field, David has high hopes for the success of the journal. He says: “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 in a decade people will look back at the multidisciplinary material in Prisms: Drylands and be able to say that it has truly advanced our understanding of these areas of the globe and improved their management. We don’t want another journal that just looks at the science of drylands – a whole multidimensional, multidisciplinary journal is what we are aiming for.

Despite retiring from his position as a senior scientist with the Government of New South Wales, his work on this important field of science continues: “I’m a bit of a workaholic and I don’t have a strong feeling about when to work and when not to work. Sometimes I work on the weekends, sometimes I take days off during the week. I’m a keen birdwatcher, I love to swim and live near the ocean. I do a lot of thinking while I’m swimming because I find it quite meditative. I practise yoga three times a week and walk the dog twice a day.

“I am now busier than I’ve ever been. But I love it.”