Desertification: A Worldwide Problem Essay

“Erosion occurs when the soil lacks protective vegetative cover”. (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) “Soil erosion reduces the productivity of the land by loss of water, soil, organic matter, nutrients, biota, and depth of soil.” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) With no conservation methods in place in certain places like: no contour farming, no cover crop, no terraces, no water ways, and tillage on steep hills is asking for a loss of productivity from the land. The effects on the land that non-conservation methods have is horrible. “Its effects are pervasive, and its damages are long lasting. (Pimentel and others 1995a)” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a bigger factor then most people think. For an example an comparison of how much soil is actually lost in certain environments: “On sloping agricultural land under tropical rainfall, as much as 400t/ha/yr of soil is lost (Pimentel unpublished report,1990).”(Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) “Under arid conditions with relatively strong winds, as much as 5600t/ha/yr of soil has been reported lost (Gupta and Raina 1996).” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a huge factor when conservation practices are not put into place. “According to some investigators, approximately 75 billion tons a fertile soil are lost annually from the world’s agricultural systems (Myers 1993).” (Pimentel, Kounang, 1998) Soil loss is a huge factor and many different things can be done to help slow it,

The environment will cause a lot of erosion when a large region remains bare for such a long time.

Now, humans have a steady food supply so they do not have to move about. Therefore, people use fences to keep their animals in one place, which causes overgrazing. Today we see many subjects being affected by desertification. Ute Schaeffer reports the affects of desertification in, Down to Earth: News & Views on Desertification,“(doc.3) It has presented a challenge for governments and aid agencies in over 110 countries for some time, and is a contributing factor in poverty and regional conflicts, for example in Sudan. It has also been a major issue in Egypt, where 90% of the country’s land mass is desert. Faced with a rising population, the government has had to undertake a number of settlement and irrigation projects to create additional living and working space.” Necessary changes were made in order to adapt to the conditions of the desert and the obstacles that have to be faced. It is always presumed that there are only negative aspects to deserts but this isn’t always the case. There is a side to the Sahara desert that acts as a home to several living organisms. The Sahara has vegetation and access to water, which allows life to exist in this region. The Nile Valley, for example, is an area that is still quite full of foliage, trees and other growing things. This area is an exception, because of the way it is fed by the Nile River. Another area of the Sahara that has some vegetation to it is in the North, along the Mediterranean where olive trees grow

While families migrated toward this region, the western plains were experiencing some of the greatest droughts to ever occur. In addition to this, “the massive plowing, plus overgrazing by cattle, largely destroyed the native grasses that held the once rich soil in place” (West 1). These settlers were farming on foreign land that they were absolutely new to and maintained the unyielding perception that “land could be shaped by human will” (Black Blizzard). Their rationale was so clouded by the belief that the resources present in the moment were limitless, that they did not see the accumulating cloud of dust slowly slithering across the land. These uneducated farmers were planting soil-depleting crops, which “caused the destruction of organic matter or the loss of minerals in excess of those

While reading through the Document Based Question I found out that Desert’s can be identified by their past, present, and future. Desert’s have been around for a long time. “ Did not begin until the 7th century” (Doc 2). This shows that Desert’s have been a thing in society since the 7th century. Desert’s have been around for over millions of years. “ The arid Sahara may have existed at least 7 million years ago.” (Internet). This shows how long Desert’s truly have been around for. To recapitulate, Desert’s can be identified by their past details, present details, and future

As lack of water and a particularly dry climate out competes shrubs, trees, and grasslands across Colorado, erosion rates increase reducing the infiltration of moisture into the soil. Causation is believed to have come from heavy livestock grazing, fire suppression, and the introduction of exotic annual plants. Habitat problems for animals and communities that rely on ranching and hunting have been directly affected by these desertification effects. Desertification has had large ecological impacts on the state of Colorado. Vegetation and ecosystems are among the most crucially impacted by the effects of desertification. While Colorado continues its dry drought like climate, restoration of soil becomes one of the major solutions to fight off desertification. Because of the overuse of our land in past generations, we are continuing to see the harmful effects due to desertification. The overall impact on humans produced by desertification is best noticed by a diminishing food production as well as a wealth of water sources becoming dry. People in affected areas are likely to experience poor water quality, dust storms, and pollution. More importantly, as soil loses its nutrients, it no longer becomes farmable; thus, impacting local businesses, livestock, and the many people in that community. If desertification continues in Colorado, an increase of lost farmlands and livestock will pose an economic decease within agriculture markets, farmers will be forced to move to find better

It also will cause erosion, drought, and

The worlds biomes at the moment are unable to feed the growing global population in the future. They might be able to feed the population now but as the population grows we need to increase the worlds agriculture to provide enough food to feed the growing population. In order to feed the growing population, the world needs to put into action some simple steps to increase food production and to reduce wastage from existing food.

In Stop Water Abuse by the Almond and Pistachio Empire by Wenonah Hauter (Source C), Hauter suggests that restrictions on irrigation should be made in arid areas of California. These dry areas of California

Deforestation’s accompaniment is erosion. Since much of strip mined land lacks proper restoration, weather causes further loss of soil and vital nutrients needed for native vegetation to grow. “Mountain Top Mining and Valley Fills Report” published by the EPA cites KA Harper and others educated and conducting studies in the fields of biology, environmental studies, and renewable sources. According to Harper, the change in mineral content of land affected by surface mining prohibits growth of indigenous plant life and allows foreign plant life to invade, changing the areas ecosystem (Harper).

Soil erosion is proven to be the dominant sediment source within catchments, comprising up to 63% of the sediment flowing into rivers (McKergow, Prosser, Hughes, & Brodie, 2005, pp.200). It is estimated that by the end of the 20th century, agricultural purposes had caused the clearing of more than 50% of the natural vegetation in Queensland (Bowen & Bowen, 2002, pp. 407). In 1999, 90% of all land cleared in Australia was located within Queensland, an estimated 400,000 hectares (Bowen & Bowen, 2002, pp. 407). Cropping, particularly sugarcane, and beef grazing are the main sources of soil erosion, as well as cotton and minor urban development (Brodie et al., 2007). Use of nitrogen fertilization (De’ath & Fabricius, 2010) has also caused a flux of nutrients to make their way to the Great Barrier Reef, causing eutrophication in some areas (Brodie, Wolanski, Lewis, & Bainbridge, 2012, pp. 267). Degradation of land assigned for Pastoral purposes has been the main contemporary source of sediments, owing the impact they have to the sheer amount of cleared land that is designated to beef grazing (Neil, Orpin, Ridd, & Yu, 2002, pp. 733). Unlike agricultural practices which use highly fertilized soils, the exported nutrients from cattle grazing land are from natural, unfertilized soil that results from erosion inland (Brodie et al.,

Desertification is the change of land once suitable for agriculture into a desert. This progression changes arable land into a desert unequipped for the growth of crops and farming practices. Dry land affects millions of people lives because the land becomes unsuitable for agriculture so the people cannot grow crops, therefore, they cannot feed them self or their livestock. Which leaves the people without food. Desertification also causes problems in the food chain. Three main causes of desertification are drought, deforestation, and Overgrazing

First of all, Savory said Desertification is a fancy word for land that is turning to desert, and this cause happened are we create too much naked ground. More and more land is turning to desert on every continent, contributing to harmful changes in the earth’s climate. On the article that response to the video, on his first argument said all non-forested lands are degraded. He claims that “all nonforested land on the planet is degrading and that the reasons for degradation are not understood.” He thinks false because many of rangelands are being perfectly management and deserts are consequence of climate and soil factors. Based on the video he said, if rangeland have too many animals cause overgrazing, which degrades the land. The critical

The Sinai Peninsula, which occupies an area of 61,000 km2 or 6.1% of the surface area of Egypt, is very rich both in the number of species and the high percentage of endemics. Sinai Peninsula is floristically one of the richest of all phytogeographical regions of Egypt. In many of these plants, Bedouins find sources of nutrition, medicine and pasture. In the last ten years unmanaged human activities have threatened endemic and rare species resulting in disappearance of pastoral plant communities, and have caused an increased dominance of unpalatable plant species due to the herds of goats that graze the diffuse vegetation in the high mountains and Wadis (Moustafa, 1990).

Natural causes leading to dissertation have been ongoing for the last few thousand years. That is to say, since the start of the world. As Brady, Nyle C., and Ray R. Weil. state in their book Elements of the Nature and Properties of Soils “Water deficiency is a major characteristic of these (arid) soils.” Soils without consistent water and the ability to store water require excessive care. Other natural causes are wild animal overpopulation or underpopulation, bare land, forest fires and natural disasters. While these many causes may seem overwhelming to correct there is much hope for arid lands.