Desertification Essay

DESERTIFICATION

Desertification of the arid lands of the world has been proceeding--sometimes rapidly, sometimes slowly-- for more than a thousand years. It has caused untold misery among those most directly caught in it's path, yet environmental destruction continues. Until recently, few if any lessons seemed to have been learned from the past, in part because the problem went unrecognized in it's early stages or was seen as a local one only affecting a small population, and in part because new lands were always available to start over again. As long as remedial action could be postponed by moving to new frontiers, land conservation held little appeal. It was not until the 20th century--when easy land expansion came to an end--that

The truth is that land degradation can and does occur far from any climatic desert; the presence or absence of a nearby desert has no direct relation to Desertification. Desertification usually begins at a spot on the landscape where land abuse has become excessive. From that spot, which might be around a watering spot or in a cultivated field, land degradation spreads outward if the abuse continues. A second misconception is that droughts are responsible for Desertification. Droughts do increase the likelihood that the rate of degradation will increase on non irrigated land if the carrying capacity is exceeded. However, well managed land will recover from droughts with minimal adverse effects when the rain returns. The deadly combination is land abuse during good periods and it's continuation during periods of deficient rainfall.

Lack of Environmental

Obviously an increase in the concentration of people in an area inevitably leads to an increased strain on that area's resources. Sometimes this strain is indirect, as when growing urban populations place demands on food production in uncrowded rural areas. The causes of Desertification are complex, and the relationship between two variables such as population increase and Desertification is very unclear . For example, a decline in the population can result increased Desertification since there may no longer be enough people to adequately manage the land. An example of this phenomenon are the hillsides Of Yemen which once full of vegetation have been reduced to the effects of Desertification as a result of the loss of the and caretakers which have migrated to neighboring oil rich countries. The reverse can also be true as their are many areas that support large concentrations of people without suffering much land degradation. At a time when population is increasing at seemingly unbelievable rates, the only thing that is certain is that the land currently in use must be properly taken care of and