Desertification comes about by a complex interaction between the natural environment and human activities. The cause may vary from region to region on account of economic conditions, population pressure, agricultural practices, and politics. Human activities that destroys surface vegetation, degrades soil structure and fertility, impedes water infiltration, and causes soil drying promotes desertification. This is especially true for the fragile transition zone between arid and semiarid land where human activity has stretched the ecosystem to its limit causing expansion of deserts. Desertification is a global problem occurring in many places but is prevalent along the margins of semiarid and arid lands in Asia, central Australia, portions of North and South America, and Africa. A world map prepared by the United States NRCS shows just how widespread the problem is.

Programs and projects to restore soil fertility

Africa has been significantly impacted by desertification. Almost three quarters of Africa’s agricultural drylands are already degraded to some degree. The impact on desertification on the greatest number of people occurs in Asia. Degraded regions include the sand dunes of Syria, the eroded mountain slopes of Nepal, and the deforested and overgrazed highlands of Laos. The Northern Mediterranean region is the cradle of civilization and has borne the effects of poor agricultural practices. Salinized, infertile soils are the result of natural hazards e.g. droughts, floods and forest fire, as well as overtilling and overgrazing. Soil degradation is high through much of Central and Eastern Europe, and very high in some areas, for example along the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Poor irrigation practices and the unsustainable exploitation of water resources are contributing to chemical pollution, soil salinization and aquifer depletion. Nearly a quarter of the inhabitants of Latin America and the Caribbean live below the poverty line fueling practices that lead to land degradation. Erosion and water shortages are intensifying in many East Caribbean islands.

 

Greening Australia is the country’s largest not-for-profit environmental organisation. It tackles critical issues like salinity, declining water quality, soil degradation, climate change and biodiversity loss in a practical and scientific way.