Desertification

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• Desertification
• Geography 12
• Alex Flaa

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Natural Deserts

• The Arctic the arctic is a cold desert with very
  little precipitation.
• Sahara the second largest desert in the world,
  covers most of Northern Africa.
• Gobi the largest desert region on Asia.
• Namib in Southern Africa.

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Definition of Desertification

• The rapid depletion of plant life and the loss of
  topsoil at desert boundaries and in semiarid
  regions, usually caused by a combination of
  drought and the overexploitation of grasses and
  other vegetation by people.

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Historical Iraq
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The Advancing Sahara Desert

• It has been suggested that the margins of the
  Sahara desert have been becoming more and more
  arid. The fluctuation of the margins are
  happening mostly because of the vegetation
  responding to the seasonal variation of rainfall

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Canadian Dust Bowl

• The Canadian dust bowl in the thirties caused
  huge ecological and agricultural damage to the
  prairie lands. It was caused by a drought, and
  repetitive farming without rotation. Deep plowing
  in the top soil destroyed the grass which held
  the soil, and moisture in place so that the wind
  couldnt blow it away and even during droughts.

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Current Problems

• Australia
• Canada
• U.S.A.

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Programs For Recovery