User:Andrea and Max's Bio Project

Landsat image of sand dunes advancing on Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.

The Problem

Land that, in the past, was once useful, is now becoming useless because the land has been completly strained of the resources it once had. Over time wind erosion can carry the sand over vast areas and create deserts. Many large deserts, like the Sahara in northern Egypt was formed by this very process.

Causes

Livestock can pound the sand with their hooves making the sand more fine and easily erode by wind, to move the desert. Also human activity can loosen the land and create erosion. A misconception is that droughts can cause desertification.

Issues

The loss of life in ecosystems is a major effect that desertification has on the land it taken over. When land gets desertified, very little or no life can survive on the land. No houses or buildings can be built because the soil is too loose and the soil won't be able to support the land.

Try to Fix

Many ideas to help stop desertification have been proposed and are now being carried out around the world. One way to help stop desertification is to plant Leguminous plants which take nitrogen from the air and fix them into the soil. Also stones can be stacked around the base of trees to retain water moisture and collect morning dew. Artificial grooves can be dug to trap wind-blown seeds and to retain rainwater. Livestock can also be moved to let the plants grow back.

What Would Happen?

If these steps aren't taken to help reduce desertification disaster could strike again. Back in the 1930's there was the Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl was a series of dust storms in much of North America that was caused from years of farming techniques that stressed the land and caused major erosion which led to over 500,000 Americans homeless. If the steps to help reduce the erosion weren't done, many people could be pushed out of their towns or cities because the soil will take over the land and the building structures and homes wouldn't be able to stand.

How Much Land is desertified?

Today, abou one-thrid off all the land on the Earth is arid or semi-arid. Experts predict that, because of global warming, in he next century 17% more land will become have a desert climate, creating more liklyness for desertification to increase. Every year, it is said, that about 12 million hectares of land are being created usless for cultivation. The Earth has a total of about 14,893,910,000 (14.89 billion) hectares.

Dust storm approaching Stratford, Texas, in 1935.

Estimated Damage of the Dust Bowl

No real amount has ever been calculated but experts estimate that the damage that desertification had, just in the 1930's dust bowl was phenomonal. The amount is said to have reached about $1 billion...in 1930 dollars. This would be approxamitly $14 billion in todays terms. The human cost and suffering of the dustbowl remains untold and could probably never be figured out acuratly.