Desertification – Climate Change or Human Influences?

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Christopher Allan geographical issues

Candidate No.- 972853488 rural Land degradation

Centre No. - 8636128

Desertification - Climate Change or Human Influences?

The Sahara is the largest of the deserts on the planet and expands from the west to east coast of northern Africa. Inhabitants have evolved to survive the harsh climate of the desert, however they now have to cope with the sprawl of the Sahara into the Sahel - Desertification.

There are contrasting opinions on the overall cause of the land degradation; some believe it is due mostly to the influence of humans and others consider changes in the climate to be primarily responsible for the spread of the desert.

There are four main human interactions that are said to lead to desertification: overcultivation, overgrazing, deforestation and poor irrigation. These are influenced by population change and changes in social and economic conditions.

Alan Grainger, author of 'Desertification: How people make deserts, how people can stop, and why they don't ', is a strong believer in the irresponsibility of mans actions in the spread of the desert. He states...

"Drought triggers off a crisis, but

does not itself cause desertification"

In northern Africa, there is a high population growth (Mali NI=3%). With an escalating population there will be more need to intensify demand on farmland for various crops to be cultivated such as rice and cassava. This leads to several problems that put increased strain on the land. Some of these difficulties include a decline in the fertility of the soil, therefore each time crops are grown they become less successful until they will no longer grow and the land becomes useless, a desert. Also, the topsoil will become crusty by the evaporation of the little rain, which will then increase surface run-off for when it does rain, eroding the soil by gullying.

In the 1960s a large-scale development of groundnuts in the Sahel is said to be significantly responsible for the drought of the early 1970s, as thought by Richard Franke and Barbara Chasin (Montclair State College, New Jersey, USA). Constant harvesting of the large areas of groundnuts due to encouragement from developed countries, like France - with whom they could exchange this product for staple foodstuffs - greatly reduced the amount of fallow land. This meant that nomads who had previously used the land for grazing had to move north where the grazing is then intensified, further increasing the rate of desertification. This political tie exacerbated a fragile situation.
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Farmers in the Sahel also cause problems when they graze livestock, mainly goats and cattle. Short-term sedentarisation produces overgrazing, especially when concentrated along walkways and water holes. The walkways are required to transport cattle from each settlement since new "grassy" land has to be found for the livestock when the essential resources end. This nomadic way of life increases the rate of land degradation by placing pressure on the land and the water resources. Overgrazing leads to a number of problems such as a decline in palatable grass species, especially perennials, which are good at holding the soil ...

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