Causes of Desertification Flashcards
In general, what are the causes of desertification?
Human causes and physical causes
What are the human causes?
over-cultivation (too much farming),
population growth ,
population pressure,
overgrazing
What can over-cultivation lead to?
the soil will become exhausted, it will eventually turn to dust and become unusable for crops.
What does population growth lead to?
a demand for firewood, trees are stripped, they then die, leading to desertification.
What does overgrazing lead to?
grass will become overgrazed, leaving lots of bare ground. This is due to the numbers of cattle being too high for the grass available.
see image in binder
Physical causes: what kind of environments are deserts?
very fragile environments,
- slight changes in temperature and rainfall (due to climate change) can have serious impacts.
What are droughts?
long periods of time with little or no rainfall causing a water shortage.
Does it rain more or less than it did 50 years ago on the fringes of the desert?
On average, it now rains less
What is soil erosion?
Soil erosion is when bare soil is eroded by the action of the wind and rain and the topsoil is lost.
What can the wind do to bare, dry soil?
Dry, bare soil can be blown away by the wind
What can happen to soil when it rains?
Soil can be washed away when it rains.
What are the results of desertification?
Famine and hunger, which leads to people being able to work less. This becomes a vicious circle and leads to many deaths among elderly and infants
What happened in Niger in 2004?
- Hardly any rain in the wet season
- plague of locusts consumend any remaing crops
What do people then rely on?
food aid from the international community
What is the problem with food aid?
on its own it is unsustainable in the long term
