What contributes to desertification?

Answer 1

Almost all the Desserts on this planet result from human intervention.

Ganges Khan put everything to the sword and torch, then filled the wells with sand,

the sun finished of the job and whole countries turned to wastelands.

He would have been envious of the effects of modern day farming.

Slash and burn destroys the protective vegetation (which helps to form the soil ),

leaving it open to the Sun ,and then ,wind and, water erosion.

The Plough turns the soil ,killing micro-biotic life (essential to soil building) and accelerates the drying out .
Pressures of the :vehicles, cattle and rain impact brings the salt to the surface.

Mono cultures ,aided by chemicals Exhaust and pollutes the soil .
Adding to this the effects of overgrazing has resulted in large scale desertification.

Each year billions of tons of topsoil are blown or washed away by storms.

Arable lands and their farms are lost all over the globe. Many farmers sons abandon farming and head for the cities.

Northern China is drying up, what once were millions of food producing people,

are now hungry refugees ,running for their lives from the all consuming dust storms.

This will have a great effect on world food prices when they start buying at what ever cost, to feed their people.

some solutions

SOIL PRESERVATION AND DESERTIFICATION

the first concept to prevent desertification is always to conserve the trees and to maintain moisture ,which can be enhanced by waterharvesting ,

which simply means to catch and retain any rain fall that happens in that place by building as many dams as is possible, and so efectively turn the place into a sponge .

the water will not always be visible ,but all the same is absorbed by the ground ,and is now moving at a much slower speed ,sometimes taking months to leave the area before it ends up in subteranean water deposits or helps feed the streems and rivers , meantime your trees have been using it.

a tree builds its own soil ,in its life time,by the leaves it discards ,--we improve on that by mulching

MULCH
cut down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall,they will cover the ground and put even more organic matter on top,you can use saw dust,leaves green or dry,and when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.

this is the easiest quickest and by far most benificial way(for the quality of your soil)to prepare the land for planting

to prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).


what you do is to cover the ground with mulch which is the same principal as compost but it includes the whole garden surface
the top part of the soil where the topsoil is being produced houses a world or microbiotic life.

Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil
an exelent mulch is forgotten or old bales of whatever ,straw or hay or alphalfa

the humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the devellopment of worms(their exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together with the mulch produce more topsoil.

the mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surfave if on unprotected land

Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and, lay it open to wind erosian.

do not use chemicals because the water will wash them into the ground and if enough people did that, you would be guilty of helping to contaminate subteranean water suplies that other people could be pumping up to drink

PERMACULTURE
the designers Manual by Bill Mollisin has a large section on dryland strategies,which are many ideas that have been applied in the sahara and in Nevada. cost about 40 dollars.
and is the best all round book you can get.(tagiari publishing, [e-mail])

Permaculture means permanent agriculture
a concept put forward by Bill Mollisson in the 60`s
which is a complete hand book for environmental design.
for those who seek an ambiotic relationship with our planet
With practical solutions for energy systems ,infratructure ,housing,
animal shelter ,water systems and sustainable agricultural practises.
With the world and it`s history as it`s source
From the chinampas of Mexico to the teraced gardens of the Andes.
From the dessert whadis to the steppes of Russia.
Covering all climatic conditions temporal, dessert, humid and dry tropics.
with chapters on soil ,Water harvesting and land design,
Earth working ,Spirals in nature,Trees and water ,utilising energy flows,
Strategy for an alternative nation ,this book also has many gardening tips,bio-gas,companion planting and ideas for structures ,how to cool down houses in hot climates ,how to warm up houses in cold climates with out using technology but rather by design.

always aiming at autosuficiency and sustainability .
Collectively portraying an ancient and natural philosiphy
With the Laws of Nature as its base
coupled to the present day level of scientific knowledge.
permaculture is extremly compact form of growing things.utilising all space and utilising all resource ,it is productive and economic. Source(s) some other writers that are on the internet are
david Holmgren
Larry Santoyo
Kirk Hanson

Masanobu Fukuaka has written ,
One-Straw Revolution
The Road Back to Nature
The Natural Way of Farming
http://www.context.org/iclib/ic14/fukuok...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/masanobu_fu...

Simon Henderson
and Bill Molisson.

a representitive of the concept in USA is
Dan Hemenway at [e-mail]
[e-mail]
http://barkingfrogspc.tripod.com/frames....
http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalo...
there is a University of Permaculture in Australia

I am a permaculture consultant for the department of Ecology for the regional government of Guerrero in Mexico
http://spaces.msn.com/byderule and yahoo 360 degrees

Answer 2

The causes of the problem are complex and far from clear.Most people agree, however that CLIMATIC CHANGE, OVERGRAZING and POPULATION GROWTH are the main causes.

Answer 3

overgrazing
planting non-native crops that aren't suited to the environment
poor farming practices that leave soil unprotected

Answer 4

4. human overuse of the land coupled with drought

Answer 5

deforestation, over planting, erosion, volcanic activity