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Desertification

Desertification involves the depletion of vegetation and soils in dryland areas, exacerbating the spread of desert-like conditions. It is caused by factors including climate variations due to global warming as well as human activities such as overgrazing, deforestation, and poor irrigation. The effects of desertification include increased sand and dust storms, flooding from poor drainage, removal of topsoil and nutrients, loss of vegetation, and regional climate shifts that enhance climate change.

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Rinnapat Lertsakkongkul
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80 views1 page

Desertification

Desertification involves the depletion of vegetation and soils in dryland areas, exacerbating the spread of desert-like conditions. It is caused by factors including climate variations due to global warming as well as human activities such as overgrazing, deforestation, and poor irrigation. The effects of desertification include increased sand and dust storms, flooding from poor drainage, removal of topsoil and nutrients, loss of vegetation, and regional climate shifts that enhance climate change.

Uploaded by

Rinnapat Lertsakkongkul
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Desertification

What Is Desertification?

Desertification was defined at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 as "land degradation in arid,
semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations
and human activities". Desertification involves the depletion of vegetation and soils. Land
degradation occurs all over the world, but it is only referred to as desertification when it takes
place in drylands. This is because these areas are especially prone to more permanent
damage as different areas of degraded land spread and merge together to form desert-like
conditions.

What Causes Desertification?

One of the impacts which global warming may have on the surface of the Earth is to
exacerbate the worldwide problem of desertification. A decrease in the total amount of
rainfall in arid and semi-arid areas could increase the total area of drylands worldwide, and
thus the total amount of land potentially at risk from desertification. Global warming brought
about by increasing greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere is expected to increase the
variability of weather conditions and extreme events. Many dryland areas face increasingly
low and erratic rainfalls, coupled with soil erosion by wind and the drying up of water
resources through increased regional temperatures. Deforestation can also reduce rainfall in
certain areas, increasing the threat of desertification. It is not yet possible, using computer
models, to identify with an acceptable degree of reliability those parts of the Earth where
desertification will occur. Existing drylands, which cover over 40% of the total land area of
the world, most significantly in Africa and Asia, will probably be most at risk to climate
change. These areas already experience low rainfall, and any that falls is usually in the form
of short, erratic, high-intensity storms. In addition such areas also suffer from land
degradation due to over-cultivation, overgrazing, deforestation and poor irrigation practices.

What Are The Effects Of Desertification?

The direct physical consequences of desertification may include an increased frequency of


sand and dust storms and increased flooding due to inadequate drainage or poor irrigation
practices. This can contribute to the removal of topsoil and vital soil nutrients needed for
food production, and bring about a loss of vegetation cover which would otherwise have
assisted with the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere for plant photosynthesis.
Desertification can also initiate regional shifts in climate which may enhance climate
changes due to greenhouse gas emissions.

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