Desertification is a huge international concern, Over 250 million lives are being affected by this. Desertification is the spread of desert-like conditions in arid and semi-arid conditions. Humans affect the Sahara Desert by causing global climate change, which in turn causes the Sahara to spread. As large amounts of forests are cleared away, allowing exposed earth to whither and die and the habitats of innumerable species to be destroyed, the indigenous communities who live there and depend on the forest to sustain their way of life are also under threat. Except causing damage, flood water also picks up many unwanted pollutants while making its progress through urban areas, landfills, wastelands, or agricultural lands where fertilizers and pesticides were used. The word ‘desertification’ may seem like a word depicting a very distant and abstract environmental problem that most of us do not consider being important in our daily lives. The UNCCD is an international agreement addressing the relationship between human development and sustainable land management, with a focus on areas that are at risk of desertification. Desertification and agriculture . Addressing a critical and emerging urgent need in transportation and public health research, the book creates a coherent, inclusive and interdisciplinary framework for understanding. Populations move to find land that can provide the food and water they need. When the trees and other vegetation in an area are gone, there are no roots that would hold soils in place, there is no canopy that would shield the ground from the direct rainfall or from the sun’s heat. It is these problems that pressure people to slip into the vicious cycle of repeating all the previously listed causes of desertification–actions which naturally open up the door to the ecological catastrophe of irreversible land degradation. Log in here for access. The region currently faces extensive desertification caused by numerous factors. This process is a result of the growing imbalance between population, resources, environment, and development. This book explores the links between environment and social systems in the Sahel, integrating ecological, demographic, economic, technical, social and cultural factors. How can the impact of drought by municipality be reduced? It make. Increased Desertification. With a changing ecosystem, species must adapt to their new climate or migrate to a more favorable climate. At the same time, they increase the chance of runoff and raindrop impact. Global climate change due to human activities and pollution causes the expansion southward of the Sahara Desert into the Sahel. Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change makes the case that the time is here to be serious about the threat of tipping points so as to better anticipate and prepare ourselves for the inevitable surprises. As “harsh” as this may sound, the reason is very simple. This leads to increased sedimentation and eutrophication–both processes disturb aquatic ecosystems and deteriorate water quality. Furthermore, through the use of unsustainable irrigation techniques, salt concentration can also rise in many cultivated soils, rendering the soil useless for growing crops or other plants. Throughout history people have associated desertification with overgrazing by too many livestock. And the land of the dry lake basin became a saline desert where nothing grows on its own. However, it is the paradox of life that especially in these vulnerable regions, animal herding is often the only livelihood people can have and there are no restrictions in place that would regulate the maximum number of animals for a given space. Additionally, by 2050 about 9 billion people will be dependent on worsening food conditions. Scientists have, for example, confirmed that overgrazing is the primary reason why around 70 percent of the once pasture rich Mongolian steppe is slowly overtaken by the Gobi Desert now. If desertification continues, people may be forced to move away from warmer regions where desertification is more likely and closer to polar regions in order to find land that is habitable and fertile. The following are some of the primary causes of desertification in our world. The official definition by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) that has been widely used since it’s formulation in 1994 is: “desertification is land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic fluctuations and human activities.” UNCCD also highlights that it is important to note that desertification is not a natural process of deserts expanding to new regions, it is a form of land degradation caused primarily by human activity in vulnerable areas. They try to teach people how to prevent desertification by reducing or changing human activities that cause desertification. Another common problem of the crop cultivation in vulnerable areas is the employment of improper irrigation methods, such as canal irrigation. In arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, deser- tification and drought are directly linked to food and water short- ages, conflicts, mass mi- gration, increased risk of fires and limited access to health care. A sad example of the destructive power of such a mismanagement is the drying out of the Aral Sea. During the rainy season, the vast grass plains turn lush green, providing a rich grazing opportunity to hundreds of thousands of the Africa’s most iconic herbivores, only to fade when the dry season comes. This book is of interest to scientists studying global and climate change, especially dealing with issues of adaptation. Social scientists, economists, geographers and policy makers concerned with West Africa should also read this book. Desertification affects a significant portion of the Earth's current population who live on or near landscapes affected by or in danger of experiencing desertification. - Lesson for Kids, Anthropogenic Climate Change: Definition & Factors, China's One Child Policy: Facts & History, Introduction to Physical Geology: Help and Review, Physical Geology for Teachers: Professional Development, DSST Principles of Physical Science: Study Guide & Test Prep, Principles of Physical Science: Certificate Program, Middle School Physical Science: Help and Review, Middle School Physical Science: Homework Help Resource, Middle School Physical Science: Tutoring Solution, ICAS Science - Paper D: Test Prep & Practice, DSST Introduction to Geology: Practice & Study Guide, Electricity, Physics & Engineering Lesson Plans, Create an account to start this course today. Many lands that were once covered in vegetation are now barren and dry deserts. … As of 2010, 57% of its territory, or 2.97 million hectares, had been affected by desertification. The loss of fertile land to desertification has brought an end to many majestic civilizations throughout the human history. Found insideThis book provides a valuable resource that will help the reader solve their potential water contamination problems and help them develop their own new approaches to monitor water contamination. How does desertification affect the environment? Abstract PIP: Desertification is a result of overexploitation of the land through overcultivation, overgrazing, deforestation, and poor irrigation practices. According to the United Nations Convention, almost 135 million people may be displaced due to desertification by 2045. This book has been written to present major and efficient applications in landscape ecology, as well as to propose a solid action for this category of topics. What are drylands? And because deforestation contributes to the emissions that cause climate change, forest destruction impacts the development prospects of poor countries as well. Land degradation and desertification can affect human health through complex pathways. How many people die each year from drought? How does deforestation affect the environment? What effect does desertification on human health? How can population levels affect desertification? By Grace Hershey Slideshare uses cookies to improve functionality and performance, and to provide you with relevant advertising. This process of desertification can occur naturally, but is often caused or accelerated by human actions. "--The Washington Post "The Uninhabitable Earth, which has become a best seller, taps into the underlying emotion of the day: fear. . . . I encourage people to read this book."--Alan Weisman, The New York Review of Books But how does such a serious form of land degradation happen and how come we let it advance so far? These dust storms and the growing desert is also affecting the nomadic people that live the growing desert. It occurs because of man-made activities and climate change. Human activities that contribute to desertification include the expansion and intensive use of agricultural lands, poor irrigation practices, deforestation, and overgrazing. Where are they found and how important are they for human habitation and agriculture? Since 1990s, when the lack of jobs due to the breakup of the Soviet Union forced people to rear livestock as their only possibility to earn money [6]. The Sahel is a region just south of the . There is probably no need to explain how crucial these services are for our wellbeing. The earth is constantly changing, and one very dramatic and important change is from fertile land to deserts. As mentioned previously, grasses and other perennial plants also prevent water runoff by slowing it down and promoting rainwater infiltration into soils. If the land can no longer support vegetation, life for humans will be more difficult. They won't stay in the same place," he says - even though "there is nowhere else to go" for farmers in one of Sudan's most important breadbaskets. Effects of Deforestation on Indigenous People Destruction of Homelands. Oishimaya Sen Nag September 14 2018 in Environment. If biodiverse ecosystems disappear, we will be left with pollution, drought, hunger and lack of resources. The lack of water further kills plants, leaving little chances for the land to recover. The war that has been going for nearly a decade now [18,19,20]. These unsustainable land uses place enormous pressure on the land by altering its soil chemistry and hydrology. It's contributed to the collapse of many major civilizations and empires — from Carthage, to the Harappan Civilization, to Ancient Greece, to the Roman Empire, to Ancient China, etc. What is the impact of humans on the desert? desertification is a 25 to 50% drop and severe desertification is a drop of more than 50% in productivity. Desertification is the conversion of habitable and fertile land to uninhabitable desert. They can cope with incremental challenges and adapt, but beyond a certain tipping point they collapse. Since dust storms are a contributors to the spreading of desertification this could also affect human health. It makes a dramatic contribution to water scarcity, with internal population movements, migrations, and social class gaps. Their loss to buildings and other infrastructure is, therefore, rather wasteful. According to the newest data, the Sahara Desert has been gradually spreading over the grasslands in the neighboring Sahel area. Abstract PIP: Desertification is a result of overexploitation of the land through overcultivation, overgrazing, deforestation, and poor irrigation practices. And it is these fertilizers that are poisoning scarce sources of potable water, as they are flushed with every rain into the river and drinking wells of people [10]. One of the biggest transitions that has forced first farmers in the early Holocene to abandon their lands happened when their previously fertile lands started to turn drier and drier. lessons in math, English, science, history, and more. SUMMARY . Desertification is a man-induced process that leads to soil nutrient depletion and reduction of biological productivity. Boko Haram is believed to constitute of young people deprived of livelihood possibilities due to constant disputes over disappearing water among diverse ethnic groups, inhabiting the area [17]. The situation in Mongolia is alarming, particularly because this land degradation has taken place just recently. Our planet’s ecosystems sustain life only when balanced. You can read the whole story here to get a better understanding about the situation in this developing country and reasons why preventing desertification gets difficult in some areas. Lands turn to desert due to a number of reasons, but much of the desertification that is occurring around the world today is caused by human activity on lands that are extremely vulnerable to overexploitation and improper agricultural methods. Include an example of an event that can cause desertification and describe the changes that occur as desertification takes place. Once the land becomes a desert, it will stay a desert. As you may have noticed, desertification problems are often related and lead to one another. Desertification Top 10 List. Superb Article . flashcard sets, {{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | This overall change is known as desertification, which is the conversion of habitable and fertile land to uninhabitable desert. This is because people on the brink of famine, extreme poverty or political instability in their country need to solve the crisis at the moment and do not think about sustainable cultivation strategies. This means that affected areas and even adjacent areas have compromised capacity of withstanding extreme weather events. Death of vegetation and trees. Overgrazing occurs when farmers allow livestock to graze to the point where they damage the vegetation. After some time, no vegetation remains to prevent soil from blowing or washing away. | 13 According to expert opinions from FAO and UN, this high level of land loss to desertification is what has triggered a civil war in the country. This is what makes the reversal of the process extremely difficult. This is exactly what has been happening in the Sahel. Let us know if you liked this article. Log in or sign up to add this lesson to a Custom Course. Inhabitants of the Aral Sea region are well-familiar with this problem. Plant C:N:P stoichiometric ratio responses to desertification. Read more about us. This can happen naturally due to a drought or can be caused by human activities. There are many historical accounts of how various people groups throughout human history experienced collapse of their civilization as drought and desertification occurred to their lands. Desertification affected one third of the earth's surface and about 1.5 billion people globally, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) was told today as it continued its general . Desertification has been described as the "the greatest environmental challenge of our time" and climate change is making it worse. How does desertification affect the population of wildlife and plant life? Desertification is a global issue, with serious implications worldwide for biodiversity, eco-safety, poverty eradication, socio-economic stability and sustainable development. The bare soil then easier dries out and turns to dust, which can be blown and washed away in a single storm. This is of great concern because as more land becomes desert, there is a reduction in the amount of fertile land that we as humans can depend on to grow our food. The cutting down of trees for business is better know as logging. "There is rapid desertification. Desertification is a process by which fertile land is transformed into desert as it becomes progressively drier and unable to support any plant growth for food production. It draws heavily from the chapters of our Dahlem book, Global Desertification. Human health and social effects. If plants are removed, the soil will have nothing protecting it, and it will be more susceptible to erosion by wind. Desertification is often caused by human activities. Similar scenario has happened even with the Bedouins grazing their herds freely over the fragile steppe in Syria. The link between soil erosion and other consequences of desertification only confirms this, as erosion is another negative outcome but also a catalyst of previously mentioned problems. separately, if policies for addressing desertification are to be effective. This means that natural resources, which are continuously needed for the proper functioning of any densely inhabited area, have to be taken from the surrounding environment. Plants and trees function like natural water filters, storing pollutants, such as heavy metals, pesticide residues, fertilizers and other, in their own bodies. Desertification causes increased levels of migration. Salt buildup on cultivated lands, then, makes it difficult for crops and other plants to grow, further exacerbating degradation of these lands. Global climate change due to human activities and pollution causes the expansion southward of the Sahara Desert into the Sahel. The reduction in plant cover that accompanies desertification leads to accelerated soil erosion by wind and water. Additionally, artificially added water also rises otherwise low groundwater level which in turn dissolves even more salts [7]. The reason is simple, people lost their ability to grow food, water resources became scarce and their animals got weak from not having enough to eat. While farmers despair about their inability to cultivate rice fields, local agronomists confirm that it was the water overextraction to create rice paddies that has significantly contributed to the current desert expansion [10]. "Desertification is not an issue that affects the UK - Discuss" Desertification is a slow-paced but destructive process that occurs worldwide. And try to do everything in our power to help protect natural resources we have. Take a breather! There are some serious effects of climate change that may alter the future of many people on earth. Poor irrigation techniques on farms can also lead to desertification. What is an example of one such effect? Desertification is a type of land degradation in drylands in which biological productivity is lost due to natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly arid. coupled human-environment systems that cause desertification. It is occurring to varying degrees in vast regions of the world where atmospheric humidity is erratic due to rainfall that is seasonal in nature. percent [8]. " Desertification occurs on all continents except Antarctica and affects the livelihoods of millions of people, including a large proportion of the poor in drylands. Besides, while preparing the soil for sowing, natural vegetation that holds the brittle soil in place is removed, letting the last bits of the productive soil layer fully wear away in just a few short seasons. Areas that used to receive rains are reducing in . What’s worse is that these effects can be felt even thousands of miles away from where the problem originated. When this happens, weakening soils get also directly exposed to wind, which often picks up last pieces of drying topsoil and mixes them with dust from already degraded parts, exacerbating the problem and creating far-reaching dust storms. They also try to maintain and restore the land by adding nutrients and increasing fertility. Desertification is an advanced stage of land degradation where soil has lost part of its capability to support human communities and ecosystem. 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