180 THE FUTURE OF ARID LANDS 
covered by the Working Party on the Development of the Grazing 
and Fodder Resources of the Near East are also the winter-rainfall 
type, and here the aridity of the summers is intensified in relation 
to their proximity to the Arabian Desert. The winter rainfall is 
generally lower than in much of the Mediterranean area and is 
more erratic and unreliable in annual total and in geographical 
distribution. 
Passing eastward through Pakistan to India one enters a 
monsoonal environment in which, in the semi-arid regions of the 
west, a low, erratic, wet monsoon occurs between mid-July and 
mid-September and almost complete drought for the rest of the 
year, combined first with low and later with high temperatures. 
The history of land use in these regions extends far beyond the 
time of scientific observation and control, when early civilizations 
were destroying the original vegetative cover for grazing, cultiva- 
tion, fuel, house and ship construction and by the waging of wars. 
By a study of early writings and of the many fragments of evi- 
dence which are becoming available, an attempt is being made to 
recreate a picture of the vegetation of that time and to trace its 
use, misuse, and deterioration through man’s employment of the 
axe, firestick, the plough, and the grazing animal. 
Although there certainly were in the region under consideration 
extensive areas of true desert or semi-desert, these have been 
gradually extended by misuse of land and vegetation. There has 
thus been a great increase in the total area of land affected by 
aridity and desiccation; these conditions, so unfavorable for plant 
growth and agriculture, have extended into areas not truly semi- 
arid in type and have seriously affected natural reforestation or 
regeneration of vegetative cover on grazing lands, as well as the 
cultivation of crops. We must therefore attempt to distinguish 
between the true deserts and the man-made semi-arid lands which 
are those most susceptible of improvement. 
In this connection it should be noted that there is little evidence 
of climatic change in these areas, at least within the period during 
which the major part of the de-vegetation has taken: place, nor 1s 
there any indication that regeneration of the vegetative cover of 
forest, grass, or semi-desert scrub is likely to change the overall 
