- Planting more trees – the roots of trees hold the soil together and help to reduce soil erosion from wind and rain.
- Improving the quality of the soil – this can be managed by encouraging people to reduce the number of grazing animals they have and grow crops instead.
How can student do to minimize a desertification?
There are many actions that can be undertaken to help end desertification. A few examples include improving land and water management systems , protecting vegetation in at-risk areas, cycling agricultural activity to reduce nutrient depletion, and empowering local communities to manage resources more effectively.
What is the best solution on land desertification?
- Integrating land and water management to protect soils from erosion, salinization, and other forms of degradation.
- Protecting the vegetative cover, which can be a major instrument for soil conservation against wind and water erosion.
What is Africa doing to prevent desertification?
The idea is that planting trees can combat desertification, create jobs, improve food security and bring migrated populations back home. ... The wall prevents the Saharan Desert from encroaching on land most affected by desertification in Africa, while simultaneously reducing soil erosion.
What is the impact of desertification?
A major effect of desertification is the decrease in crop yields . Once land turns from arable to arid, it is often on longer suitable for farming purposes anymore. In turn, many farmers may lose their livelihood, since they often solely rely on farming as their single source of income.
What are the negative effects of desertification?
Higher food prices, water availability, violent conflicts for land, migration , increasing poverty, pollution from wind-blown dust particles coming from distant lands, could be the outcomes of desertification if we let it consume more of our planet.
Why is it important to stop desertification?
In Africa and other countries largely dependant on agricultural production, desertification can reduce agricultural yields and make them much more unpredictable . It therefore affects food security of those living in affected areas.
How can desertification affect humans?
Land degradation and desertification can affect human health through complex pathways . As land is degraded and deserts expand in some places, food production is reduced, water sources dry up and populations are pressured to move to more hospitable areas. ... the spread of infectious diseases as populations migrate.
Does desertification cause harsh weather conditions?
Another impact of desertification is an increase in sand and dust storms .
What are the main causes of desertification?
‘Climatic variations’ and ‘Human activities’ can be regarded as the two main causes of desertification. removal of the natural vegetation cover(by taking too much fuel wood), agricultural activities in the vulnerable ecosystems of arid and semi-arid areas, which are thus strained beyond their capacity.
Where is desertification the worst?
The United Nations Convention (UNC) says that about six million Sahelian citizens would have to give up the desertified zones of sub-Saharan Africa for North Africa and Europe between 1997 and 2020. Lake Chad , located in the Sahel region, has been hit particularly hard by this phenomenon.
Why is desertification a huge problem in Africa?
It has been estimated that 319 million hectares of Africa are vulnerable to desertification hazards due to sand movement . ... Deforestation exposes the soil to high temperatures which break down the organic matter, increase evaporation and make the soils vulnerable to erosion.
What are the causes and consequences of desertification?
Climatic disturbances may be both a consequence and a cause of desertification. The destruction of the natural grass and woody vegetation cover in dry lands affects the topsoil temperature and air humidity, and thus influences the movements of atmospheric masses and rainfall.
How does desertification affect the economy?
Desertification mostly affects rural households who are forced to depend on natural resources for their livelihoods . More so, drought and desertification lead to the migration of people to urban or other areas to engage in economic activities such as farming, grazing and fishing.
People are forced to migrate, with many people – young men in particular , leaving to work in cities and towns. This puts pressure on already limited urban resources. Disputes occur over land between herdsmen and farmers. Food shortages lead to malnutrition and famine, eg in Ethiopia.
What will happen if desertification continues?
Across the world, desertification affects the livelihoods of millions of people who rely on the benefits that dryland ecosystems can provide. ... Some 10 to 20% of drylands are already degraded, and ongoing desertification threatens the world’s poorest populations and the prospects of poverty reduction .
