Ok, I’ve lost myself a little with my off-topic investigations but now back to desertification.
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| The Sahel |
An example of desertification is in the Sahel, a vast strip of land to the south of the Sahara Desert.
This is an extreme area of dryland and the countries that fall within the Sahel are all less economically developed countries (LEDCs) which all have rapidly growing populations. Approximately a quarter of the world’s population lives in this dry area.
The Sahel is suffering land degradation which include:
- Fire
- Hunting
- Agriculture
- Deforestation
- Tourism
The process begins by fertile land suffering erosion which over time turns to desert. In the Sahel, millions of hectares of land are lost to the desert year on year as a result of droughts and human activity. Pretty hard to imagine unless seeing it for yourself!
This sort of process can have devastating impacts on human life. For example: in 2005 the lack of rain in Niger resulted in the land not being able to support crop growth and as a result nearly 4 million people were subject to starvation. For detailed information on this disaster see: http://www.odihpn.org/humanitarian-exchange-magazine/issue-33/niger-2005-not-a-famine-but-something-much-worse.
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| Desertification processes |
When Britain becomes subject to drought it is nowhere near as extreme as those suffering droughts in LEDCs, so Britain may see an increase in the price for crops, may undergo hose pipe bans and so on, yet we don’t see each other go hungry or famine break out. I think this is an area of importance that students need to consider and be aware of. The droughts in Africa are a whole different extreme to ours.
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| Desertification processes |
A combination of overcultivation, overgrazing, deforestation and climate change is resulting in the Sahel spiralling into desertification. The diagram shows how these causes are resulting in desertification in Nigeria. This sort of diagram can be used by students when considering the actions and results of bad human management with Nigeria being used as another case study. The diagram below is more complex and shows all the possibilities of human actions combined with natural events. These complex diagrams can be combined by students so they make their own diagram that makes sense to them.
Desertification prevention
Anyways back to the Sahel... just because the Sahel is subject to severe drought doesn’t mean it is a lost cause. There are sustainable land management practises that can be put into place to benefit the people and the land, these are: - Tethering live stock to limit their grazing area.
- Farmers diversifying the types of crops and trees they grow to enhance soil binding, preventing erosion.
- Reducing deforestation by cutting back branches on the trees allowing them to grow back rather than cutting the whole tree down.
- Controlling grass burning to small areas to prevent wildfires.
These sort of practises can reverse desertification in some cases.
However, the Sahel is experiencing a new crisis this year (2012), not only is the droughts making peoples livelihoods suffer, a combination of rising food prices and poverty are resulting in a rise in starvation. It is estimated that 16 million people are at risk. For more information, see: http://www.fao.org/crisis/sahel/the-sahel-crisis/2012-crisis-in-the-sahel-region/en/, yet again another case study for students to use/reflect upon.
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