Desertification:

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Desertification

• is the process by which land becomes desert

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Case study the Sahel

• The Sahel is becoming more like desert with thin,
  dry, sandy soils
• Soil erosion has created bare rock
• Vegetation is sparse

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The UN environment programme took up combating
desertification as a major part of its work. In
the 1990s it argued that desertification
threatened nearly a quarter of the Earths land
surface.
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How have each of these factors contributed to
desertification?
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Climate

• Drought low rainfall since 1968.
• Soils become dry and there is no water left in
  wells.
• Trees die, grass withers and is replaced by poor
  desert scrub.
• Crops fail and cattle feed on poor pasture.
• Less roots to protect the topsoil, less humus
  soils become more sandy and dry.
• Wind erosion removes the soil, causing dust
  storms, leaving bare rock.

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Human activity

• Population is high and increasing fast.
• To increase food supplies more crops are grown
  and more cattle kept leading to over-cultivation
  and over-grazing.
• Yields decline and cattle are undernourished and
  die.
• Demand increases for water as population grows.
• Trees are cut down for fuel supplies.
• Less vegetation more dry, bare soil more wind
  erosion.

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Animals/insects

• Locusts destroy the crops.
• Overgrazing means all vegetation is eaten.
• Animals trample the ground reducing it to dust.
• Animals die and cant breed.

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What are the effects of desertification?
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Starvation

• Food and water shortages lead to malnutrition,
  famine, disease and high death rates.

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Aid Programmes

• Large numbers of people become dependent on
  food aid programmes.

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Migration

• From rural to urban areas causing over-population
  in towns.
• To refugee camps.

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Solutions?
How can we solve the problems of desertification?
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Solutions

• In the short-term, provide food aid and water
  supplies to prevent suffering.
• Improve water supplies by building large
  reservoirs and drilling deeper wells.
• Conserve water in local small-scale schemes eg
  magic stones in Burkino Faso.
• Encourage sustainable farming practices (using
  locally-made tools, not tractors).
• Provide drought-resistant seed such as millet
  (northern Nigeria). GM crops.
• Tree planting schemes to reduce soil erosion
  (Mauritania).
• International action to reduce the causes of
  global warming.

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Solving the Problems the results

• Nov 1992

• Before and after animals have overgrazed and
  trampled the savanna.

• Nov 1998

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Solving the Problems the results

• Before

Which scheme do you think solved these problems?

• After

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Conservation Projects

• Eden Foundation
• Founded 1985 in SwedenNiger is one of the
  driest countries in the world, situated south of
  the Sahara desert. The people are poor and have
  neither money nor water to spare.
• Their solution is to bring trees and bushes that
  can grow naturally in this dry area and give
  food, even in times of need.
• There are 250,000 known plant species in the
  world, but only 20 of them provide 90 of our
  food so the Eden Foundation grow underexploited,
  edible trees and bushes to feed the local people.
• Since their arrival, Eden has served more than
  2500 households in the region.
• The seeds are free and they show the local people
  how to grow the seed.
• They also give health advice.

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Eden Foundation

• "Thanks to our Eden trees, we've had food to eat
  even though the millet failed. For the last three
  years, we haven't had a single good rain in our
  village and this year's harvest lasted less than
  a month. Instead, my family has lived from the
  Eden fruits on our field which gives us food for
  the day. We depend on it, for there is nothing
  else to eat around here."- Musa Abari from
  Garin Farara

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Charity Events

• Band Aid
• 20th Anniversary raising money for the victims
  of famine and starvation.
• Trying to cancel Third world debt.

Midge Ure and Sir Bob Goldolf
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Problems?

• Civil wars, as in Ethiopia and Sudan prevent aid
  reaching stricken areas and cause mass migration
  to refugee camps.
• Population growth continues to outstrip food
  supplies.