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What is the relationship between climate change and desertification?

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What is the relationship between climate change and desertification?

Human activities and human-induced factors, such as climate change, are a major cause of land degradation and desertification around the world. Which leads to serious consequences for humans and the planet.


Some scientists claim that soil is a non-renewable resource at a human timescale, seeing that an inch of topsoil takes at least 100 years to form. Therefore, poor management practices and degradative processes may jeopardize soil quality to an irreversible point.


Furthermore, desertification is generally associated with climate variations and biodiversity loss, exacerbating the environmental crisis the world is currently facing.


Land Degradation vs Desertification


Land degradation is the effect of natural or human-induces processes that results in the loss or long-time reduction of ecological integrity or biological productivity of the land. In other words, is the loss or deterioration of the productivity capacity or value of soils.


Land degradation can take place anywhere around the world. Desertification, on the other hand, is the process of land degradation occurring particularly in the so-called drylands. Drylands are constituted by arid, semi-arid, dry sub-humid and hyper-arid areas.


Therefore, the difference between land degradation and desertification is strictly geographical. It’s important to note that desertification is not the expansion of deserts, and this process is not limited to irreversible forms of degradation.


“Land is life, and our life depends on land,” – Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser President of the U.N. General Assembly 66th session.


Global overview


Over 40% of the world’s land surface are considered drylands, and this area is the home of approximately 3 billion people. Most of which are based in Africa and Asia. People living in drylands are extremely vulnerable to climate change and desertification seeing that most of them depend on agriculture as a source of income, an activity highly susceptible to the changing climate.


About 33% of the world’s terrestrial area is subjected to desertification, and although Africa and Asia are the areas affected the most, this is a global issue. In fact 169 countries have already declared being affected by this process, including countries in North America. Over 30% of this region is comprised by arid or semi-arid areas, with about 40% of the United States being considered vulnerable to desertification – 17 Western states.


The factors leading to desertification can vary from place to place, however, it’s clear that climate variations and extreme events play a major role in driving this process. Among climate events, droughts and wildfires are key drivers of desertification, because it reduces vegetation cover, increase soil erosion and runoff and reduce soil fertility and soil biodiversity.


Human activities play an important role in land degradation, especially in agricultural areas. The adoption of conventional agriculture in drylands is a clear example of desertification driver. Poor land management jeopardize soil health and cause soil erosion, and the excessive use of water or bad irrigation practices leads to water scarcity and soil salinization.


In other regions, population growth can also result in land-changes which can lead to desertification. Including land-clearing to attend the demand for wood, housing areas or arable land. One fact that exacerbates the problem is that population in drylands is expected to increase twice as fast as in other regions, reaching 4 billion people in 2050. Thus, increasing the pressure on natural resources.


“If we keep producing and consuming as usual, we will eat into the planet’s capacity to sustain life until there is nothing left but scraps. We all need to make better choices about what we eat and what we wear to help protect and restore the land.” — Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification


Social and economic impacts


Around 90% of the dryland population live in developing countries, many of which already face social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities. Desertification and climate change can aggravate their vulnerability and lead to situations of extreme poverty. This is because of the decrease in agricultural productivity, rise in product’s prices (especially food products) and extreme weather events.


Some regions are already experiencing these impacts, with land productivity declining by 50% due to soil erosion and desertification. As a result, many farmers turn to additional inputs such as synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, to address productivity problems. However, these inputs just mask the problem of degraded soils, providing a sense of security, but in fact, it only worsens the problem.


It is estimated that by 2050 about 700 million people will be displaced due to problems related to scarce land resources. Moreover, when looking into this issue through a gender-lens, we found that female-headed households, women and female farmers are generally more vulnerable to desertification. The reason for that is their restrict access to financial opportunities and productive resources, usually due to cultural traditions and social norms.


As mentioned before, dryland regions are highly depended on agricultural production, and desertification and drought drive 12 million hectares of land loss every year. Together, desertification and land degradation result in a USD 42 billion in loss of earnings each year.


Environmental impacts


Climate


Desertification causes changes in vegetation cover, greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes and sand and dust storms, which among other factors, can exacerbate climate change.


Desertification can influence atmospheric carbon, seeing that most of the carbon stock in these regions is stored belowground, as biomass or soil organic carbon (SOC). Therefore, desertification and land-changes in drylands usually lead to decline of above and below-ground carbon stock, due to the loss of SOC and plant productivity. Thus, increasing atmospheric CO2.


Furthermore, sand and dust storms, common in drylands, are intensified by desertification. These sand and dust aerosols impact regional climate directly and indirectly. The direct effect is that these particles intercept, reflect and absorb solar radiation, hence increasing the temperature of the atmosphere. While the indirect effects are the tendency of precipitation reduction in the presence of these particles. In addition, sand and dust storms can affect crop productivity and soil cover, due to sandblasting, thus resulting in loss of nutrients and plant tissue.


Food and water


Soil erosion and bad irrigation practices result in soil salinization and a decline in the soil’s water retention capacity, thus leading to water scarcity. Moreover, reduced vegetation cover and intensified dust storms can aggravates droughts. Therefore, agricultural production can be compromised.


Consequently, desertification can impact food security by affecting agricultural production. Reduced yields and rising prices of inputs and food products can exacerbate existing food insecurity, especially in agricultural communities.


Combating Desertification


There are several ways to prevent desertification or recover degraded drylands, luckily, many of these actions also help tackle climate change, poverty, and food insecurity.


Sustainable land management (SLM) is an important tool to address desertification and achieve sustainable development. These practices can increase agricultural productivity, dryland ecosystem services, and reduce soil degradation. SLM include grazing management, integrated crop, soil, and water management, among others.


These practices can boost soil carbon sequestration, overtime reducing atmospheric CO2. It can also increase farmers income, improving crop resilience, hence improving farmer’s capacity to adapt to climate change as well.

Farmers may need financial aid to first implement sustainable land management, therefore, private investments and policy support are crucial for SLM adoption in large scale. Decision makers need realize that investments in SLM have positive returns. Each USD invested, corresponds to 3-6 USD of social return over a 30-year period. Moreover, the implementation of SLM can become profitable within 3 to 10 years.


Desertification is a serious issue, and it seems to only be getting worse with the climate crisis, but there is still time to restore and rehabilitate degraded drylands, thus, avoiding further catastrophic impacts to the environment and people’s livelihoods.


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This article was saw first on the Chloride Free Foundation's website. If you want to know more about them, please make sure to check it out this link right here.

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