Causes Of Desertification
CAUSES OF DESERTIFICATION
The causes of desertification are mostly caused by two factors. These factors are called Human and physical factors.
Human Factors
*Watering holes- overgrazing
At a local scale, desertification is common around watering holes in fringe areas. Large numbers of livestock gather here. Leading to overgrazing and degradation of the vegetation. This is a particular problem in years of drought, when nomadic pastoralists may take up semi-permanent resident around the watering holes.
Note
Nomadic pastoralists
- A member of a tribe roaming from place to place for pastures.
*Firewood
In Namibia the demand for firewood for cooking and lighting is high. Domestic energy comes from firewood. In rural areas where population density is high, trees and shrubs around villages are cleared. Soils become vulnerable to erosion by wind and water as a result of the loss of the binding effect of the vegetation.
*Over-cultivation
When rapid population growth occurs, so does pressure on farmlands.
Some farmers are forced to cultivate marginal areas which are more vulnerable to erosion. Some have to grow the same crops year after year on the same piece of land without any rest.
Soils which have limited fertility and fragile structures become exhausted, cannot grow vegetation and become susceptible to wind and water erosion.
Physical factors
*Climatic change
Years of drought can widespread desertification. The decrease in rainfall means less grazing land and fewer crops.e.g The Sahel ecosystem have adapted to one or two drought years in ten, but with three or four successive drought years, the water in the system (in the plants, the soil and the rocks beneath) empty and the whole system begins to break down through lack of water.
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