Desertification

 This blog post is another short summary of an article from Geographical magazine on desertification, its causes and solutions to reduce its impacts on our lives.

 Desertification is caused by a combination of human activity and rainfall shortages and is defined by the UN’s Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) as: ‘land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities’. It is a slow but widespread phenomenon affecting two thirds of the world’s land area, with 1 billion people threatened by it and an annual global cost estimated at 100 billion euros.

 The causes of desertification include: erosion, drought, overgrazing, flooding, other agricultural and bio-industrial activities and salinization. As a result, its impacts are widespread and in some countries these are equivalent to 8% GDP per year – this is enough to negate economic growth and stall development. Those affected fall behind in terms of quality of life, income and infant mortality. This often leads to them being displaced.

^ Areas at risk from desertification                                        Source: geocases1

 Desertification cuts across many issues, such as food security, climate change and population growth, which makes it hard for the international community to work together to find a solution. Consequently, many believe the solution instead lies in the ingenuity and determination of local farmers (a method called barefoot science). However, the most success is found where the two meet with a combination of scientific knowledge and local traditional knowledge. A planned example is the ‘Great Green Wall’ where local farmers will help to plant a 15km wide belt of trees running across Africa from Djibouti in the east to Senegal in the west.