Author: Moumita Chakraborty
The term ‘desertification’ comprises of two words: ‘desert’: a topographical regime receiving less than 25cm of rainfall per year and ‘fication’ meaning to cause or make something happen. Thus desertification is a state whereby the land becomes barren and develops desert like conditions. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) defines desertification as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities.” Desertification can be natural or man-made. In the regions surrounding deserts, barkhans and Seif dunes encroach upon the neighbouring areas and hamper with the crop growth. Thus Aeolian processes have accelerated the mobility of sand from the deserts into the surrounding non-desert areas across the world. This is called natural desertification. On the other hand, anthropogenic activities also contribute to desertification.
Deforestation, overgrazing, mining, practicing ‘jhooming’ or slash and burn method, lowering of the underground water table, increase in population, intensive farming practices, global warming, and urbanization are some of the anthropogenic factors leading to desertification. Desertification is a combination of land and soil degradation. The term ‘land degradation’ is synonymous with soil degradation and it refers to deterioration in the quality of land due to a multitude of factors like high input farming, application of toxic insecticides like DDT; short or practically no recovery period given to the soil to recoup its fertility; salinisation; alkalinisation; soil erosion; loss of nutrients and soil moisture; excess irrigation; rapid felling of trees to obtain wood; mining; overgrazing; shifting cultivation and improper ways of crop rotation. Desertification is a global issue with serious implications worldwide for biodiversity, eco-safety, poverty eradication, socio-economic stability and sustainable development. Desertification has serious implications on soil productivity. Decreased crop yield, drought and aridity, loss of arable land, soil pollution, flooding due to altered physical, chemical and biological properties of soil are few detrimental effects of desertification. The two bio-geographic regions contributing to the maximum percentage of desertification are the Sahel region of Africa and the Gobi Desert of Mongolia. The top five desertification prone states of India are Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir and Orissa. Afforestation, re-afforestation of woodlands which have been deforested years ago, following appropriate methods of crop rotation with sufficient time given to soil to help recoup its fertility, creating windbreaks in desert biomes to prevent encroachment of dunes into the surrounding non-dune areas, following sustainable agricultural methods like growing cover crops of legumes; conservation tillage; minimizing the use of toxic chemicals; avoiding overgrazing can go a long way in tackling with the perils of desertification. Proper and timely implementation of land reclamation schemes and anti-desertification programmes along with inculcating the practice of dryland farming in arid and semi-arid areas can too play a vital role to curb the menace. Remote sensing techniques for monitoring desertification can also prove fruitful. The World Day to Combat Desertification is observed every year on 17th June to promote public awareness about desertification and to achieve a status of Land Degradation Neutrality. Also, UN has declared the decade 2010-2020 as Decade for Deserts and Fight against Desertification. India too has taken several steps forward to fight against drought and desertification. The National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board, under MoEF, is the nodal agency to restore the degrading areas. Since India is also a member of UNCCD, it has developed a comprehensive National Agricultural Policy to Combat Desertification. Inter-regional programmes like Van Mahotsav also can solve the twin problems of desertification and deforestation. Few countries have developed some innovative measures to tackle the problem e.g. China’s ‘Great Green Wall or The Three-North Shelter Forest Programme’. The Green Wall is a series of human-planted wind-breaking forests strips designed to hold back the expansion of the Gobi desert. Construction of anti-sand shields in northern Sahara of Africa, sand fencing in some parts of Patagonia desert of South America, development of windbreaks in Sahel region and Jojoba plantations in the Thar Desert has played an effective role in combating the edge effects of desertification. Some countries have developed Biodiversity Action Plan to counterfeit the results of desertification. FAO had launched the Dryland Restoration Initiative in 2012 to curb the menace. To promote research and development in India, the Central Arid Zone Research Institute has been established. Other institutions like Arid Forest Research Institute and Gujarat Institute of Desert Ecology have been working towards sustainable improvement of drylands. Thus, we can say that effective dealing with desertification will help reduce global poverty and strive towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
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Published by: Geographyandyou.com
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