Desertification may be one of the most serious problems facing humanity today.
The United Nations, noting that desertification a serious threat to humanity, has declared 2006 as the Year of Desertification.
In fact, the problem is extraordinarily serious. Experts have pointed out that 33% of the earth's land area is currently vulnerable to desertification, and that 2.6 billion people are currently affected by the desertification process.
Providing an adequate diet for the world's growing population means tripling global food production over the next 50 years. But with the process of desertification expanding, that will be a difficult, if not impossible task.
It's a complex problem.
Soil, vegetation, freshwater supplies tend to be resilient in a balanced world ecosystem and can recover from adverse effects of drought and overgrazing. Desertification lowers the ability of the land itself to adjust to natural climate variations and manmade situations.
When land is degraded, it becomes seriously weakened. Soil becomes less productive. Wind blows away exposed topsoil and water erodes it. Arroyos, gullies, wadis and cracks appear in the land's surface, further exposing it to wind and water erosion.
If there is rain or flooding, and the water table rises because of poor drainage or bad irrigation practices, the soil can become waterlogged. Salts build up changing the chemical and biochemical makeup of the soil itself. Macro- and micro-organisms which continuously break down soil and add nutrients to it begin to die.
Add to this soil trampled by cattle, sheep and goats, and the soil's ability to support plant growth and contain moisture is further stilted. Water cannot penetrate or percolate into the soil, so it either evaporates immediately or it runs off.
Loose soil is whipped by the wind, blasting existing vegetation, damaging them directly, exposing roots, or burying them. Because of reduced vegetation, existing livestock will overgraze, killing off edible plants. This causes inedible species to invade the areas.
There are other consequences of desertification. Degraded land causes downstream flooding. It brings sediment into rivers and lakes, silts up reservoirs and areas of navigation. One need only look at the lower Mississippi River to understand that years of siltation (and consequent building up of levees) causes severe flooding to the delta areas, as well as depositing millions of tons of silts into marine estuaries (which are breeding grounds for marine life).
Now come the dust storms, which damage machinery, create air pollution, cause eye infections, respiratory infections and mental stress.
If the process of desertification is not stopped and reversed, and soon, food yields will decline. Malnutrition, starvation and famine, which already affects 1.4 billion people, may result.
There are also enormous social costs directly related to the process of desertification. In Africa particularly, desertification is resulting in the migration and movement of people, attempting to escape famine. These migrations are now erupting into armed conflicts. People displaced by desertification are stressing the environmental resources of the areas they are fleeing to, further undermining social and economic stability.
Are there solutions? Yes, there are. The United Nations, through the World Bank, USAID, Engineers for a Sustainable World, and other organizations are working with many Third World communities to help stem the process of desertification, not only through education, but through practical projects, such as drip irrigation, water conservation, proper grazing techniques, and plant diversity. See also Drip Irrigation in Desert Gardens, The World's Water Supply at Risk, and Olla Gardens In The Desert.
