The social and political impacts of desertification also reach non-dryland areas. For instance, the movement of people from drylands to other areas can exacerbate urban sprawl and bring about internal and cross-border social, ethnic, and political frictions.
What is the economic impact of desertification on the world?
“Lost value from land use change and land degradation at 10% to 17% of current global GDP annually.” “Desertification is the accumulated result of ill-adapted land use and the effects of a harsh climate.
What is the main cause of desertification?
Desertification, the process by which natural or human causes reduce the biological productivity of drylands. Such declines may be the result of climate change, deforestation, overgrazing, poverty, political instability, unsustainable irrigation practices, or combinations of these factors.
What is the impact of humans on the desert?
What is the impact of humans on the desert? Deserts are increasing in size daily. This process is known as desertification. Desertification is the process of fertile land turning into desert over time. Areas on the edge of hot deserts are especially at risk of desertification. What are the causes of desertification?
What is the relationship between desertification and irrigation?
Faulty irrigation projects have resulted not only in the soil infertility, they have also decreased water table of the country’s largest lakes by 80 percent and more, exposing shores to the effects of rapid drying out and land degradation [14]. As you may have noticed, desertification problems are often related and lead to one another.
How does desertification affect a place?
CONSEQUENCES OF DESERTIFICATION The loss of vegetation cover and therefore of food for livestock and humans. Increased risk of zoonotic diseases, such as COVID-19. Loss of forest cover, with a corresponding shortage of wood resources. The decrease in drinking water reserves due to the loss of aquifers.
How does desertification affect land use?
Human activities that contribute to desertification include the expansion and intensive use of agricultural lands, poor irrigation practices, deforestation, and overgrazing. These unsustainable land uses place enormous pressure on the land by altering its soil chemistry and hydrology.
How does desertification affect society?
Across the world, desertification affects the livelihoods of millions of people who rely on the benefits that dryland ecosystems can provide. In drylands, water scarcity limits the production of crops, forage, wood, and other services ecosystems provide to humans.
What are 5 consequences of desertification?
Devastating Effects of DesertificationFarming becomes next to impossible. If an area becomes a desert, then it's almost impossible to grow substantial crops there without special technologies. ... Decrease in Crop Yields. ... Hunger. ... Flooding. ... Poor Water Quality. ... Overpopulation. ... Poverty. ... Biodiversity Loss.More items...
How does desertification affect economy?
The impact of desertification on the socio-economic life of rural households leads to reduction in crop and animal production, as well as causing, livestock deaths and rise in the prices of foodstuffs.
Why is desertification a problem?
It occurs when trees and bushes are stripped away for fuelwood and timber, or to clear land for cultivation. Wind and water erosion aggravate the damage, carrying away topsoil and leaving behind a highly infertile mix of dust and sand. It is the combination of these factors that transforms degraded land into desert.
What is desertification causes and effects?
Desertification is the degradation process by which a fertile land changes itself into a desert by losing its flora and fauna, this can be caused by drought, deforestation, climate change, human activities or improper agriculture. Desertification is a process of degradation of the land.
What areas are most affected by desertification?
The global reach of desertification Africa is the continent most affected by desertification, and one of the most obvious natural borders on the landmass is the southern edge of the Sahara desert.
What are the effects of desertification in Africa?
It leads to reduction in crop yields and weakens the resilience of agricultural and pastoral systems - key livelihood pillars in Africa. Through its effect on vegetation and soils, desertification leads to changes in carbon pools and sinks and release of associated GHGs.
Does desertification cause drought?
Droughts occur frequently in the areas affected by desertification, and are generally a natural feature of the climate of such regions.
How does deforestation affect land use?
Deforestation not only eliminates vegetation that is important for removing carbon dioxide from the air, but the act of clearing the forests also produces greenhouse gas emissions. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations says that deforestation is the second-leading cause of climate change.
How does climate change affect land?
Agriculture is particularly sensitive to climate change. As the relative outputs of agriculture and forestry are altered by temperature increases, land productivity across the planet will be altered. Over the next several decades, warmer weather in low-latitude regions will increase the likelihood of drought.
What is land desertification?
Desertification is a form of land degradation by which fertile land becomes desert.
What are the effects of land degradation?
Its impacts can be far-reaching, including loss of soil fertility, destruction of species habitat and biodiversity, soil erosion, and excessive nutrient runoff into lakes. Land degradation also has serious knock-on effects for humans, such as malnutrition, disease, forced migration, cultural damage, and even war.
How does desertification affect the ecosystem?
In general, desertification is caused by variations in climate and by unsustainable land-management practices in dryland environments. By their very nature, arid and semiarid ecosystems are characterized by sparse or variable rainfall. Thus, climatic changes such as those that result in extended droughts can rapidly reduce the biological productivity of those ecosystems. Such changes may be temporary, lasting only a season, or they may persist over many years and decades. On the other hand, plants and animals are quick to take advantage of wetter periods, and productivity can rapidly increase during these times.
What are the causes of desertification?
In general, desertification is caused by variations in climate and by unsustainable land-management practices in dryland environments. By their very nature, arid and semiarid ecosystems are characterized by sparse or variable rainfall. Thus, climatic changes such as those that result in extended droughts ...
What are the activities that can be done in dryland environments?
Since dryland environments are used for a variety of human purposes (such as agriculture, animal grazing, and fuelwood collection ), the various activities undertaken in them can exacerbate the problem of desertification and bring about lasting changes to dryland ecosystems.
How much of Africa's dryland is arid?
One-third of Africa’s drylands are largely uninhabited arid deserts, while the remaining two-thirds support two-thirds of the continent’s burgeoning human population. As Africa’s population increases, the productivity of the land supporting this population declines. Some one-fifth of the irrigated cropland, three-fifths of the rain-fed cropland, ...
What percentage of dryland is irrigated?
Over 60 percent of these irrigated areas occur in drylands. Certainly, some dryland areas have been irrigated for millennia, but other areas are more fragile. Of the irrigated dryland, 30 percent (an area roughly the size of Japan) is moderately to severely degraded, and this percentage is increasing. Al-Kufrah oasis.
What is the name of the process by which natural or human causes reduce the biological productivity of drylands?
He serves currently as the editor of Earth and life sciences, covering climatology, geology, zoology, and other topics that relate to... See Article History. Alternative Title: desertization. Desertification, also called desertization, the process by which natural or human causes reduce the biological productivity of drylands ...
How much of the Earth's surface is dryland?
Slightly less than half of Earth’s ice-free land surface—approximately 52 million square km (about 20 million square miles) —is drylands, and these drylands cover some of the world’s poorest countries. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) notes that desertification has affected 36 million square km (14 million square miles) of land and is a major international concern. According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the lives of 250 million people are affected by desertification, and as many as 135 million people may be displaced by desertification by 2045, making it one of the most severe environmental challenges facing humanity.
What are the negative effects of desertification?
The Damaging Effects of Desertification. Desertification poses many threats. In the fields of sustainable development and climate change, it is a serious problem mentioned in one of the 17 global goals for sustainable development. It is also a pertinent issue in the fields of herders in pastoral Africa and China with too many animals who overgraze ...
What are the causes of desertification?
Climatic change and human impact are the largest factors in desertification. Within the subcategory of climate change, one of the biggest causes includes climatic variation. Although desertification may intensify with a general climatic trend towards aridity, desertification itself can initiate change in local areas.
How does desertification affect the Mediterranean?
The Mediterranean Basin has felt these environmental effects of desertification since Platonic times. Plato described forests transforming into rocky lands, resembling “the bones of a sick body.” Unfortunately, this imagery still exists today. Because desertification results in carbon dioxide emissions without replenishing biomass and drastically changes the water content in degraded soil, one of the primary solutions is to restore moisture in drylands with silvopasture and agroforestry. These processes aim to rehabilitate desertified areas by rebuilding carbon sinks, while also providing employment to local farmers. These methods are a win-win solution since they address both the reversal of environmental degradation and the economic concerns of farmers.
What happens when productive land becomes arid and useless?
When productive land becomes arid and useless, the absence of crop production on a local level has potential global effects. For example, in Jeffara, Tunisia, “desertification threatens around 52% of the land area suitable for agriculture, forestry and pasture farming.”. Desertification in Jeffara has resulted in unusable forms ...
What is the purpose of defining and fixing desertification?
Defining and fixing desertification is a balancing act between human activity versus climatic activity. Environmental and social processes continue to stress the existing arable land still available. The resulting effect of desertification poses a threat to the condition of the land, the productivity of the agriculture and the health of the people, ...
What is the project that aims to sequester 10-20 million tons of carbon dioxide into recovering biomass?
Initiatives such as Project Wadi Attir in Northern Negev, Israel are adopting such approaches. The project aims to sequester 10-20 million tons of carbon dioxide into recovering biomass while providing work to thousands. These solutions are promising because they address the environmental effects of desertification while also providing jobs, both which aim to help the state of poverty in the area.
How has Tunisia been fighting desertification?
It would be natural to wonder what Tunisia has done to combat these contemporary issues. However, these issues are anything but contemporary. Tunisia has been on the search for solutions to desertification since ancient times since it contributes greatly to the country’s impoverished state. The first step to fighting these persistent issues is monitoring. With the use of monitoring initiatives, from field studies to high-resolution satellite images, The Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) developed an environmental monitoring program to set up dashboards and agendas for countries combating desertification through the lens of national policy and sustainable management of resources. With monitoring initiatives like these, people can track the effects of desertification and governments can respond with suitable measures that can not only aid in reducing negative agricultural effects but also subsequently alleviate the poverty in the area.
How much of the Earth is threatened by desertification?
Desertification threatens 25% of earth’s surface. “One quarter of the earth’s surface is threatened by desertification, an area of over 3.6 billion hectares”. IFAD, International Fund for Agricultural Development, 2001. Desertification affects 168 countries.
How many countries are affected by desertification?
Desertification affects 168 countries. “Desertification, the degradation of the land in the world’s dryland areas, now affects 168 countries”. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, 2013. 195 Countries in the world. “There are 195 independent sovereign states in the world”.
How will soil loss affect crop yields in 2035?
2035. By 2035 soil losses will reduce crop yields by 41% in Asia. “During the next two decades if soil losses continue unchecked in Africa, the potential rain fed crop production will decline about 15%, in Southeast Asia, production will fall about 19%, and in Southwest Asia, more than 41%”.
What percentage of the world's arable land is degraded?
IFAD, International Fund for Agricultural Development, 2001. One third of global arable land is degraded or desert. “One third of the world’s arable land is thought to have been affected by degradation or desertification”. ELD Initiative, 2015. Desertification affects 30% of us.
Why did poor people cut down trees?
For many years, poor people in the area cut down trees for fuel, building and other uses. With each year’s rains, tiny tree shoots would emerge from the soil, a reminder of the thousands of stumps and roots lying just below the surface. Animals grazed on the shoots and farmers cleared them to make way for crops.
How many acres of land have been abandoned?
More than a billion acres of farmland on the planet have already been abandoned due to degradation and desertification. It is predicted that if we continue with ‘business as usual’ we will exhaust our ability to farm altogether within 60 years.
How does assisted natural regeneration help soil?
Assisted natural regeneration has also contributed to restoring soil fertility. The benefits of tree regeneration have been so dramatic that farmers not directly involved in the programme are also following the practice”. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Plant based diet can save the world.
How does desertification affect the environment?
Desertification has environmental impacts outside of the areas in which it is occuring. For instance, desertification processes and reduction of vegetation can lead to the formation of airborne particles affecting cloud formation and rainfall patterns etc. Large dust clouds can have impacts not only locally but also thousands of kilometres away from their point of origin, affecting air quality and causing health problems in more densely populated areas. Finally, reduction of vegetation cover in drylands leads to destructive floods downstream and excessive clay and silt loads in water reservoirs, wells, river deltas, river mouths, and coastal areas often located outside the drylands.
Why are the drylands of Asia and Africa so marginalized?
Dryland populations are often marginalized both socially and politically due to their impoverishment and remoteness from decision-making centres .
Why is it difficult to estimate the proportion of drylands that are deserted?
The exact proportion of drylands currently undergoing desertification is difficult to estimate mainly because the few assessments made so far take into account different data which leads to a very wide range of estimates.
What are the factors that contribute to the poverty in the drylands?
The low level of human well-being is worsened by the high population growth rates in drylands and by a number of policy factors such as the slow growth of health and education infrastructure, facilities, and services. The situation is worst in various parts of the drylands of Asia and Africa which lag well behind drylands in the rest of the world.
How many dryland people live in developing countries?
On average, compared to the rest of the world, dryland populations lag far behind in terms of human well-being and development indicators, and 90% of them live in developing countries.
Is desertification a problem?
Since all drylands are potentially threathened by desertification, and that it could affect a very large number of people, desertification clearly ranks among the greatest environmental problems of today. More...
How does desertification affect poor countries?
In poor countries with a large proportion of their territory in arid and semiarid regions, desertification may trigger a downward spiral where a significant amount of a nation's human and financial resources are devoted to combating past desertification effects, leaving less available to invest in health, education, industry, and governmental institutions. The ultimate precarious social conditions thus developed generally lead to migrations, exacerbating urban sprawl, and may bring about internal and cross-boundary social, ethnic, and political strife.
What are the environmental problems of desertification?
The most accepted definition of desertification states that it is land degradation in arid, semiarid, and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Drylands cover almost 40 percent of the total land surface of the world and are inhabited by approximately 1 billion humans dispersed over more than 100 countries. These people include many of the world's most vulnerable, marginalized, and politically weak citizens.
What are the future contributions to the desertification problem?
Future contributions to the solution of the desertification problem require the synthesis of recent social and ecological advances into a new synthetic framework that overcomes the constraints upon the solutions imposed by the GEM and populist discourses. Social scientists hope that a new desertification paradigm--that is, the dryland development paradigm, which represents a convergence of insights from both discourses--is emerging. Bibliography: 1) Adger, W. Neil, Tor A. Benjaminsen, Katrina Brown, and Hanne Svarstad. 2001. Advancing a Political Ecology of Global Environmental Discourses. " Development and Change 32:681-715. 2) Herrmann, Stefanie M. and Charles F. Hutchinson. 2005. "The Changing Contexts of the Desertification Debate. " Journal of Arid Environments 63:538-55. 3) Reynolds, James F. and D. Mark Stafford-Smith. 2002. Global Desertification: Do Humans Create Deserts? Berlin: Dahlem University Press. 4) Veron, Santiago R. , Jose M. Paruelo, and Martin Oesterheld. 2006. "Assessing Desertification. " Journal of Arid Environments 66:751-63.
What is the dominant discourse on desertification?
Approaches to the desertification problem broadly fall into two competing perspectives: the predominant global environmental management (GEM) discourse and the populist discourse. Whereas the former discourse rests on neoliberal values and Malthusian thinking, the latter has its philosophical roots in the self-reliant advocacy derived from the dependency schools of the 1970s and 1980s. The GEM discourse depicts overpopulation in drylands as the main problem leading to the degradation of the ecosystems on which they depend. As seen in the GEM discourse, the global problem of desertification requires a global solution.
How does desertification affect human well-being?
Any attempt to assess the impact of desertification on human societies should first acknowledge the difference between the ways water-limited ecosystems shape the functioning of social systems and the effects of desertification itself. Desertification imposes an additional constraint on human well-being by further reducing the limited ecosystem goods (e. g. , food, timber, water) and services (e. g. , soil maintenance, erosion control, carbon sequestration) that drylands provide.
How are drylands characterized?
Drylands are characterized by water scarcity stemming from the conjunction of low water offer (i. e. , precipitation) and high water demand (i. . , water lost to the atmosphere as water vapor from soil via evaporation and from plants through transpiration). Drylands' precipitation is highly variable through the year and occurs in infrequent, discrete, and largely unpredictable events. In turn, the high evaporative demand of the atmosphere, resulting from high air temperatures, low humidity, and abundant solar radiation, determines that water availability is the dominant controlling factor for biological processes such as plant growth and herbivore productivity.
What was the first concept of desertification?
In the Sahelian region of Africa, where the concept of desertification was first coined at the beginning of the 20th century, the replacement of the original vegetation by crops, the increase of grazing pressure over the remaining lands, and the collection of wood for fuel resulted in a reduction of the biological or economic productivity of the land. In particular, inappropriate use of heavy machinery, deficient irrigation schemes, and grazing management practices led to soil erosion, salinization, and overgrazing.
What is the impact of Desertification?
The area naturally experiences alternating wet and dry seasons. If the rains fail it can cause drought.
What are the causes of deserts?
These are: Climate Change – hotter and drier conditions are increasing the risk of land turning to desert; Removal of trees for fuel – cutting down trees to use the wood for fuel leads to roots dying. The soil will no longer be held together by the roots and erosion will occur;
What happens when a population grows and the soil becomes bare?
The soil will no longer be held together by the roots and erosion will occur; Overgrazing – soil becomes bare as the result of vegetation being removed by grazing animals. The soil becomes bare, compacted and prone to drying out and cracking; Over-cultivation – as a population grows there is a greater demand for food.
How to reduce soil erosion?
Small-scale irrigation projects, such as catching and storing rainwater and using sprinklers to irrigate the land. Tree planting – This helps reduce soil erosion because tree roots stabilise the soil.
What is the process of fertile land turning into desert over time?
This process is known as desertification. Desertification is the process of fertile land turning into desert over time. Areas on the edge of hot deserts are especially at risk of desertification. Desertification.
What happens when rains fail?
If the rains fail it can cause drought. The result is crop failure, soil erosion, famine and hunger: people are then less able to work when their need is greatest. It becomes a vicious circle and can result in many deaths, especially among infants and the elderly.
How does planting trees help reduce soil erosion?
Tree planting – This helps reduce soil erosion because tree roots stabilise the soil. Find out about a scheme in the Sahel to combat desertification through afforestation – the Great Green Wall of Africa
What is the effect of desertification on the environment?
Desertification compromises the ability of an area to withstand climatic variations and more important ly, natural disasters .
Why is desertification occurring?
Most of the desertification occurring is mostly due to human activities , however, natural events have also played a vital role in causing desertification.
What is the process of Desertification?
Although the end-product is similar, Desertification is nothing like the preexisting deserts of our planet which consist of diverse dryland ecosystems and countless species .
How many people will be displaced by desertification by 2045?
According to the United Nations Convention, almost 135 million people may be displaced due to desertification by 2045. It is a source of massive land degradation in water-scarce parts of the planet. This can lead to temporary or permanent decline in productivity, soil, vegetation and wildlife.
What is the term for the loss of trees and shrubs, leaving the land barren?
In simplest of terms; desertification is defined as the loss of trees and shrubs, leaving the land barren.
Why are trees being chopped off?
Trees being chopped of for multiple reasons also exposed the soil to become eroded quickly. Soil erosion is one of the last steps which complete the process of desertification. 4. Vulnerability to Natural Disasters.
How do dust storms affect agriculture?
Dust storms have a number of effects which intensify desertification. Dust storm destroy crops, nutrient-rich soils and organic matter through wind erosion. This reduces agricultural productivity of farmlands. For example, a huge amount of Iraq’s farmlands have “blown” away at the hands of dust storms.
Desertification’S Effect on Agriculture
Desertification’S Effect on The Environment
- Beyond the agricultural aspect, desertification has a significant impact on the environment. There is a strong interrelationbetween desertification and climate change. Desertification not only compromises food production and future food security, but it also releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. The decomposition of organic matter and bio…
Desertification’S Effect on Health
- The effects of desertification on agriculture and the environment points to a larger issue; the health of the people. According to the World Health Organization, land degradation has a significant effect on the health of the land as well as the people that live in it. Desertification forces food production to halt, water sources to dry up and inhab...