What is Desertification?

Desertification is the process of productive turning into non-productive desert. This happens as a result of poor land management and occurs mainly in areas bordering on the desert and with a rainfall of less than 600mm annually. An example of where this had taken place is in the Sahel, south of the Sahara Desert, where the desert moved 100km south between 1950 and 1975.

Desertification causes the land to become unproductive and unable to support life, which affects wild species, domestic animals, farming crops and the people inhabiting the land. The unproductivity of the land also leads to very little plant cover which accelerates soil erosion by wind and water. Water does not soak into the soil to provide moisture to plants and not many plants can survive the drought. Once the process of desertification has started, the deterioration will worsen.

The main cause of desertification worldwide is overgrazing. The plants in these dry areas have adapted to being eaten by large grazing mammals that move with the patchy rainfall of the region. Early cattle farmers that lived in these regions learned from the animals and moved according to the availability of food and water. The regular stock movement prevented overgrazing of plant cover. Unfortunately modern times lead to the use of fences in order to mark land, which prevented both domestic and wild animals from moving according to food and water availability, which in turn lead to overgrazing.

The effects of desertification can be prevented by using boreholes and windmills, allowing livestock to graze in areas that could previously only be utilised during the rainy season. Poor planning and management regarding the provision of drinking water has contributed to the massive advance of deserts in the past decades.

The following poor management decisions all eventually lead to desertification:

·         Farming on land where there is a high risk of crop failure and low economic returns,

·         Destruction of vegetation in dry regions for housing or fuelwood

·         Poor grazing management after burning of vegetation

·         Incorrect irrigation practices leads to a build-up of salts in the soil, preventing plant growth (salinization)

 

Any of the above can worsen when combined with a dry climate. Increasing the human population in these areas contributes to poverty, which forces the poor to overuse their environment in the short term without planning for the future and the consequences of their actions.

 

Desertification can be stopped by reducing the amount of animals dependent on the land in order to allow the plants to regrow. This is the only realistic large-scale approach to prevent desertification.

Written by Marleen Theunissen

Creative writer