Desertification: A Natural Disaster

The world’s greatest deserts were formed by natural processes interacting over long intervals off time. During most of these times, desert have grown and shrunk independent of human activities. In some regions, deserts are separated sharply from surrounding. In other areas, desert fringes form a gradual transition from a dry to a more humid environment making it more difficult to define the desert border. These transition zones have very fragile delicately balanced ecosystems. In these marginal arrears, human activity may stress the ecosystem beyond its tolerance limit, resulting in degradation of the land. This degradation of formerly productive land to barren land or a persistence degradation of dry land ecosystem by variation in climate and human activities is called DESERTIFICATION.

CAUSES
Desertification is a complex process which involves multiple causes as a result of “drought and poor practices in farming”. Also, an increase in population and livestock pressure on marginal land has accelerated desertification. In dryland, water scarcity limit the production of crops, forage, wood, and other services ecosystem provide to humans, still the increase in human pressures on the exploitation of plants both in dry lands and humid areas thereby leading to desertification is the major cause of desertification. It is also caused by a combination of social, political, economic and natural factors which varies from region to region. Water erosion and reduced soil conservation negatively affect ecosystem services. Policies that can lead to an unsustainable use of resources and lack of infrastructure are major contributor to land degradation. Agriculture can play either a positive or negative role, depending on how it is managed. Policies favouring” sedentary farming” (the act of staying in a particular area/land) over “nomadic herding” (the act of feeding animals) in regions more suited to grazing can contribute to desertification. The process of globalization both contribute to desertification and prevent it, for instance, in some cases, trade liberalization, economic reforms, and export oriented production in dry land can promote desertification. In other cases, enlarged markets outside of the drylands also contribute to successful agricultural improvement. Livelihoods have been based on a mixture of hunting, gathering, farming and herding. This mixture varied with time, place, and culture, since the harsh conditions forced people to be flexible in land use. Population growth has led to the extension of cultivated lands and the irrigation of these lands is brought about by desertification, as well as other environmental problems. Other causes include burning which also can turn vegetation to an exposed soil thereby leading to desertification. So also overtillage and erosion can have tremendous implication on the environment leading to loss of soil conservation, loss of nutrient and soil exposure.

DISASTER
Desertification has various disastrous effects on the environment because of its wide spread. It was reported that desertification affects the livelihood of millions of people, as it occurs in all continents (except Antarctica).Desertification takes place in drylands all over the world. Some 10 to 20% of all drylands may already be degraded, but the precise extent of desertification is difficult to estimate, because few comprehensive assessments have been made so far.

A large majority of dryland population lives in developing countries as population growth and increased food demands are expected to drive the expansion and intensification of land cultivation in drylands. If no counter measures are taken, desertification in drylands will threaten future improvement in human well-being and possibly reverse gains in some regions compared to the rest of the world; these populations lag far behind in terms of human well being, per capita income and infant mortality. The situation is worst in the drylands of Asia and Africa. Desertification has environmental impacts that go beyond the areas directly affected. For instance, loss of vegetation can increase the formation of large dust clouds that can cause health problems in the more densely populated areas, thousands of kilometer away. Desertification is also disastrous such that it diminishes biological diversity, a diversity which contributes to many of the services provided to humans by drylands ecosystems. Vegetation and its diversity are key for soil conservation and for the regulation of surface water and local climate. Desertification, however contributes to global climate change by releasing to the atmospheric carbon stored in dryland vegetation and soil. The effect of global climate change on desertification is complex and not yet sufficiently understood. On the one hand, higher temperatures resulting from increased carbon dioxide levels can have a negative impact through increased loss of water from soil and reduced rainfall in drylands. Desertification also affect products such as food and water, natural processes such as climate regulation, but also non-material services such as recreation and supporting services such as soil conservation. These can lead to unsustainable agricultural practice, further land degradation, exacerbated urban sprawl, and socio-political problems. Moreover, the social and political impacts of desertification also reach non-drylands areas. For example, human migration from drylands to cities and other countries can harm political and economic stability.

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Be Environment Friendly

Sunkanmi Rufai