Climate Change and Innovative Ecological Interventions Through Climate-Smart Agriculture in the Cholistan Desert of Pakistan

Cholistan Desert is one of the largest deserts of the Pakistan and part of the Great Indian Desert, located in the Sothern part of Punjab province. This desert is spread over 2.6 million hectares measuring 480 km in length and 32 and 192 km in breadth. Human and livestock population in the desert is 0.155 and 2.0 million, respectively. This is a hyper-arid desert that receives an annual mean rainfall ranging from 100–250 mm having temperature fluctuations of 6 to 50 °C. The main land use in the area is livestock rearing. Most of the area (81%) is under small and big sand dunes, while 19% consists of alluvial flats and sandy hummocks. The area is severely affected by desertification due to scanty vegetation cover, high wind velocity and soil salinity and overgrazing. Local communities are largely dependent on livestock keeping for earning their livelihood. The area is facing major issues such as extreme scarcity of water, drought, over-grazing, deforestation, wind erosion, salinity and encroachment for expanding agriculture that results in the decline of natural resources including plant biodiversity. The agriculture is highly vulnerable to temperature and drought in the Cholistan desert. Local inhabitants are chiefly exposed to the impact of climate change on the crop as well as livestock. The prospective upsurge of 2.8 °C in the maximum day temperature and 2.2 °C fall in night temperature by the midcentury is reported in Pakistan. The objective of this chapter is to introduce climate-smart interventions by introducing climate-resilient crops. Initially, it explains the impact of climate change on the current situation in addition to existing natural resources in the Cholistan desert and, then, latent climate-smart interventions to combat food security issues. Climate-smart strategies include reclaiming the desert lands into productive ecosystems by conserving existing natural resources such as lands, water, and biodiversity along with possible alternatives to improve the livelihood of local communities.