Can we win the race against deserification

How can we prevent it?

* Planting trees- this reduces soil erosion, sand movement and traps soil moisture and to keep nutrient levels high in soil. We should do this because one of the main causes of desertification is unabated cutting of trees and planted. When this happens, the surface of the soil becomes dry and the top soil gets blown away by wind or washed away by floods and rainwater.

* Wells- this is a very reliable source to have water supply, to water the crops when there isn't much rainfall

* Sand Traps- you can use this to prevent any sort of sand blowing into cultivated lands

* Overgrazing- by stopping animals grazing lands, but this might not work as some farmers might want animals for manure, which they use on crops. Integrated smaller scale farming, which only has a few crops and some animals too help crops and this is where stopping grazing may not work. But stopping this is important because overgrazing in the same area tends to get rid of certain species of plants that are useful, while the ones that are not useful remain behind.

* Water channels- you could put water channels or earth dams to collect water in the wet seasons to make crops grow and to water them

* Stone walls- they slow down any surface of water that might run off and keep water in the soil longer

* Wind breakers- to stop wind erosion

* Better methods- Using poor irrigation methods causes moisture to evaporate from the surface of the soil allowing soil erosion. Therefore, using good irrigation practices by ensuring that the soil is moist will prevent soil erosion, which then causes desertification.

I think that sand traps are probably most reliable because sand may ruin cultivated areas, and that sand traps are the easiest way to keep sand of crops, so that is very important. Although, if there is a lot of rainfall in some areas then planting more crops is probably the best way to prevent desertification in these sorts of conditions.

I think that if people start doing all the things that I have mentioned above, then we can reverse or prevent desertification in the lands and win the race against desertification.

Nour Hroub