How far have I come?

As far as this six weeks go, I have met my goal of exploring the various remediation efforts that have been carried out for remediation of desertification. The UN's website was a great help as far as that goes. For my experiment I will be using biochar, compost, leaf mulch with (possibly) compost tea, and a combination of biochar with compost in used of coffee filters.
These particular methods were chosen based on low expense, availability of resources, and simplicity of use. I should also mention that the leaf mulch is being used to mimic the effects aforestation after the trees have been established.
The experiment itself is coming along slowly. Unfortunately it takes about two weeks to prepare biochar and compost tea, and I am 3 days into that.
So I will try to have everything together in about a week.

Grass Roots

  For the researchers working in the field of remediation for degraded lands, getting the "grass roots" involved seems to be one of the best approaches. No, no, not the actual rhizospheres of the various grass species, but the common folk of a given country. Institutions including Australia's federal government, the United Nation's Convention to Combat Desertification, and the United States' Convention to Combat Desertification have expressed the importance of getting the everyman involved in getting his land back.

  I too have been inspired to empower the everyman to do what he needs to do to improve his land. In my approach, I felt that a "kit" would be the best opportunity to do this. Not necessarily a box that would contain a magic potion that allows poor soils to bounce back naturally, but more of a list of instructions accompanied by any necessary tools or materials needed to begin working. In my vision, I felt that this book should use a series of pictures that would be easily interpreted by just about anybody, and invoke the skills needed to help. Sort of like the pictures associated with a Heimlich Maneuver poster.

  Well in my research, I found a group that is using a similar idea and charge. In Australia, a team has been working on a kit that will allow landholders to perform many of the functions necessary to manage their land through a community network. The land owners would perform actions along the lines of counting species, practice land management of the most endangered lands, and coordinate with liaison officers. This would be facilitated by a CD that would allow landholders to enter the network and begin to work with others.

  In my opinion, I think this is a fantastic plan that will allow Australians to grab the reins and lead the themselves rather than being herded by experts. This bottom up management will probably contribute to overall success because it allows for a greater work force to carry out necessary actions like counting species, the likes of which probably have not been seen in the conventional methods (That is, a band of experts that carry out a census every ten to twenty years or so). But I think it falls short when it comes to one factors: universal application.

  By universal application, I mean the act of carrying this system over to people that need it elsewhere. In most developing countries where desertification is a problem, it is unlikely that landholders will have access to computers. Therefore, the CD is rendered moot in this situation. So while the locals in a developing country, such as Haiti, might be ready to do whatever is needed to remediate their land, they are not being met with a valid application. 

  This is where I would like to come in with the kit that I develop. Universal application is important because it makes use of one of the most powerful resources of combating desertification, the grass roots. If I would be able to give them the knowledge necessary to begin remediating their land on their own, nothing could stand in their way. But first, I must find the best remediation technique to use.