1. Shebin Sheraf
PHOENIX

2. OVERVIEW
o What is it?
o Regions affected by desertification
o Causes
o Impacts
o Indian scenario
o Summary

3. What is Desertification
• Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry
sub-humid areas resulting from various factors,
including climate variations and human
activities.

4. The process through which a desert takes
over a formerly non-desert area. When a
region begins to undergo desertification, the
new conditions typically include a significantly
lowered water table, a reduced supply of
surface water, increased salinity in natural
waters and soils, progressive destruction of
native vegetation, and an accelerated rate of
erosion.

6. Estimates of percentage of human
actions causing desertification are:
overgrazing (35%),
Deforestation (30%),
other agricultural activities (28%),
overexploitation of fuel wood (7%),
and bioindustrial activities (1%)
Human impacts can exacerbate but
not initiate desertification

7. Climatic Effects
• Natural global cycles of dry and rain
• Change over significant amounts of time
• Not induced by human actions, but can
work in combination with them.

8. IMPACTS: ECOLOGICAL

9. IMPACTS:ECONOMICAL
 Loss of fertility and productivity in
soils
􀂃 In China alone, about $6.5 billion
annually is
lost to the effects of desertification
􀂃 Worldwide $300-600 billion lost
annually
􀂃 Since 1985, Kazakhstan has lost
12.5 million
acres of grain-growing land.
􀂃 Benefits of prevention and
restoration are 2.5x
greater than allowing desertification to
continue.

10. IMPACTS: HUMAN
Desert lands are inhospitable,
sometimes uninhabitable.
􀂃 2/3 of arable land in Africa at
risk.
􀂃 Loss of arable land means
increased poverty, famine.
􀂃 Food insecurity leads to more environmental
refugees and displaced persons, more forced
migrations.
􀂃 People are important, too.

11. As local human
populations have
increased, their
escalating food needs
have lengthened the
cultivation period.
Grain crops are now
planted longer into
the dry season
preventing trees and
grasses from
reproducing as they
did in the past. Much
of the land has

12. INDIAN SCENARIO
"In India, the problem of 'Desertification' is recurrent with
visible evidence of its ravages in Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jodhpur
and Bikaner districts.
According to a recent estimate by Govt. of India, 32. 7 per
cent of the country's land is affected by different
degradation processes.
Arid areas in our country experience an annual rainfall
between 100 and 400 mm with a very high coefficient of
variation ranging from 40 to 70 per cent.
Low and erratic rainfall coupled with extreme temperatures
and intense solar radiation (200-600 cal cm2 day 1) results
in frequent crop failures and considerably affects the
agricultural economy in the region.

13. HOW TO PREVENT DESERIFICATION?
-Integrating land and water management to protect soils from
erosion, salinization, and other forms of degradation,
-Protecting the vegetative cover, which can be a major instrument
for soil conservation against wind and water erosion.
-Integrating the use of land for grazing and farming where
conditions are favourable , allowing for a more efficient cycling
of nutrients within the agricultural systems.
-Applying a combination of traditional practices with locally
acceptable and locally adapted land use technologies.

14. -Giving local communities the capacity to
prevent desertification and to manage dryland resources
effectively.
-Turning to alternative livelihoods that do not depend on
traditional land uses, such as drylandaquaculture
,greenhouse agriculture and tourism-related activities, is
less demanding on local land and natural resources, and yet
provides sustainable income.
-Creating economic opportunities in dryland urban centers
and in areas outside of drylands.

15. SUMMARY
Desertification is a growing worldwide
problem
that impacts a huge percentage of the world’s
population.
􀂃 The economic cost of desertification is in
the
many hundreds of billions of dollars.
􀂃 Desertification can be slowed and even
reversed by re-vegetation, water
conservation,
livestock management and wise agricultural
methods.