Sustainable Development #10 Desertification

Desertification is a global environmental challenge that affects 25% of land and a sixth of earths inhabitants. It is very prevalent in Africa where much has not been done to combat it, desertification threatens the livelihood of millions of people and happens on all continents excluding Antarctica.

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Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a relatively dry area of land becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife.

Causes of Desertification
Desertification is as a result of social, natural, political and economic factors combined and it varies from place to place:

• Climate change: climate change play leading role in desertification, as global warming increases days get warmer and drought becomes usual of the day. Unless climate change is reduced more land will become desert and as times goes on becomes uninhabitable.
• Overgrazing: herding of livestock also influence desertification. In region of dry lands (Savannah and Chaparrals) where the vegetation is scanty,if these lands are overgrazed there will be loss of vegetation cover which will lead to the loosening of the soil and loss of soil fertility making it unfavourable for plant growth.
• Deforestation: forest are cut down at a larger scale to be used as fuel , to meet our daily needs and also to provide space for agricultural activities. When tree are removed there nothing left to hold to soil, the soil loosen up and its blown and washed away, the soil is degraded with precious nutrient lost.
• Unsustainable agricultural practices: improper farming practices such as, the use of heavy farm machinery causes compaction of the soil and also improper irrigation techniques used in arid region causes the calcification and salinazation of the soil making it difficult for the plants to grow thereby leading to desertification.
• Overpopulation: every environment has its own carrying capacity, when there is too much population as against available resources, there is high tendency for an unsustainable environment. Overpopulation leads to the overuse of vegetation resources more than it can be replaced thereby causing desertification.

Effects of Desertification

• Poverty: because of desertification livelihoods are lost due to the poor nature of the soil where agricultural cannot be practiced and livestock cannot be herded.
• Poor water quality: lack of vegetation causes the pollution of water in desert, plants are known to be natural filters storing pollutants from the water body into their own body.
• Natural disasters: areas without vegetation are prone to flooding, vegetation helps in the infiltration of runoff water into the soil but in their absence there is high tendency of flooding. Dust storms and drought are also prevalent in these areas.
• Extinction: desertification leads to the extinction of species, due to the degraded land species finds it difficult to adapt to the changing environment some of them migrate to areas with favourable conditions while others become extinct.
• Soil Erosion: lack of vegetation cover leaves soil without binding agent which makes the soil susceptible to wind erosion and in some scenario when there is flash flooding fluvial erosion happens.

Solution to desertification

• Educating people on sustainable farming and importance of forest.
• Encouraging reafforestation in areas void of trees and replanting of trees felled.
• Land use policy that prevent other land uses replacing forest and vegetation
• Embracing alternative livelihoods that do not depend on traditional land uses, example is tourism.
• Giving communities capacity to combat desertification and manage their resources.
• Implementation of land and water management to protect soils from erosion, salinization, and other forms of degradation.

Conclusion
Desertification is one of the greatest environmental challenges today and represent a major barrier to meeting basic human needs, fighting desertification will help reduce poverty and contribute to meeting Millennium Development Goals.

Reference
Wikipedia
http://desertificationb.tripod.com/id3.html
Green Fact