DESERTIFICATION

DESERTIFICATIONAND

DROUGHT

WHAT IS

DESERTIFICATI

ON ?

Desertification is a process of turning the productive land into desert.

DESErTIFICATION

. DESERTIFICATION

The degradation of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas.

Can be caused by human activity or climate change.

How have each of these factors contributed to desertification ??

desertification

climate humans animals

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.

Human activity To increase food supplies

morecrops are grown and more cattle kept leading to over- cultivation and over-grazing. Population is high and increasing fast. 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.

Animals/insectsLocusts destroy the crops.

Overgrazing means all vegetation is eaten.

Animals trample the ground reducing it to dust.

Animals die and can’t breed

Dryland regions of the world (yellow)

What are the effects of desertification ?

Starvation

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

Large numbers of people become dependent on food aid programmes.

Aid Programmes

From rural to urban areas causing over-population in towns.

To refugee camps.

Migration

HOW TO SOLVE ?? .Control the population. growth / natural increase by using family planning, in order to decrease the land use capacity

.The number of grazing and the rate of cultivation should not over the carrying capacity of land

HOW TO SOLVE ?? improve i)farming &

ii)grazing methods, in other to reduce soil erosion and salinization

Legislation: band the deforestation and over grazing, etc. , in order to balance the ecosystem of desert.

HOW TO SOLVE ??

. afforestation i.e. plant the wind break trees & drought resistant plants .stone lines (e.g, in Burkina Faso) .Building reservoir and canal , (e.g, The Indira Gandhi Canal)

Conclusion WE SHOULD

STOP DESERTFICATION OTHERWISE PEOPLE FIND

DIFFICULT TO ACCESS FOOD.

ESPECIALLY,PEOPLE IN AFRICA WILL DIFFICULT TO

IMPROVE THEIR LIVING STANDARD. IT IS DIFFICULT TO

RECOVER LAND FROM EROSION,SO AVOID EROSION

IS IMPORTANT. THERE ARE ALSO MANY

SPECIES LIVE IN DESERT.

PLANT FOR THE PLANET, PLANT FOR THE FUTURE

THANKS FOR WATCHING

CREATED BY :

Muhammed

NoufalAnd Aromal rajal

Presented

by :SHAKIRA