Countries Losing War With Advancing Deserts

[Menydh]

Countries Losing War With Advancing Deserts

Environmental News Network
August 04, 2006

By Earth Policy Institute


WASHINGTON, D.C. — "Desertification, the process of converting productive land to wasteland through overuse and mismanagement, is unfortunately all too common. Anything that removes protective grass or trees leaves soil vulnerable to wind and water erosion. In the early stages of desertification, the finer particles of soil are removed by the wind, creating dust storms. Once the fine particles are removed, then the coarser particles - the sand - are also carried by the wind in localized sand storms," says Lester Brown, President of Earth Policy Institute. (See http://www.earthpolicy.org/Books/Seg/PB2ch05_ss5.htm)

Large-scale desertification is concentrated in Asia and Africa - two regions that together contain nearly 4.8 billion of the world's 6.5 billion people. Populations in countries across the top of Africa are being squeezed by the northward advance of the Sahara.

In the vast east-to-west swath of semiarid Africa between the Sahara Desert and the forested regions to the south lies the Sahel, a region where farming and herding overlap. In countries stretching from Senegal and Mauritania in the west to Sudan, Ethiopia, and Somalia in the east, the demands of growing human and livestock numbers are converting more and more land into desert.

Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, is losing 351,000 hectares of rangeland and cropland to desertification each year. While Nigeria's human population was growing from 33 million in 1950 to 132 million in 2005, a fourfold expansion, its livestock population grew from roughly 6 million to 66 million, an 11-fold increase. With the forage needs of Nigeria's 15 million cattle and 51 million sheep and goats exceeding the sustainable yield of the country's grasslands, the northern part of the country is slowly turning to desert. If Nigeria continues toward 258 million people as projected by 2050, the deterioration will only accelerate.

Iran is also losing its battle with the desert. Mohammad Jarian, who heads Iran's Anti-Desertification Organization, reported in 2002 that sand storms had buried 124 villages in the southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, forcing their abandonment. Drifting sands had covered grazing areas, starving livestock and depriving villagers of their livelihood.

Neighboring Afghanistan is faced with a similar situation. The Registan Desert is migrating westward, encroaching on agricultural areas. A U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) team reports that "up to 100 villages have been submerged by windblown dust and sand." In the country's northwest, sand dunes are moving onto agricultural land in the upper reaches of the Amu Darya basin, their path cleared by the loss of stabilizing vegetation from firewood gathering and overgrazing. The UNEP team observed sand dunes 15 meters high blocking roads, forcing residents to establish new routes.

China is being affected by desertification more than any other major country. Wang Tao, Director of the Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, describes the country's accelerating desertification. He reports that from 1950 to 1975, an average of 1,560 square kilometers of land were lost to desert each year. Between 1975 and 1987, this climbed to 2,100 square kilometers a year. From then until the century's end, it jumped to 3,600 square kilometers of land going to desert annually.

China is now at war. It is not invading armies that are claiming its territory, but expanding deserts. Old deserts are advancing and new ones are forming like guerrilla forces striking unexpectedly, forcing Beijing to fight on several fronts. Wang Tao reports that over the last half-century, some 24,000 villages in northern and western China have been entirely or partly abandoned as a result of being overrun by drifting sand.


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[Savage]

The greed of humans knows no limits.
If I remember right, also Sahara was once upon a time greener, but got deserted much thanks to humans need for weed, and burning woods to plant in the ashes, then as food for domestic animals. Specially goats, that eats plants to the roots.

In Norway we have had two examples on partial desertification, both related to mining from earlier centuries. That is first at Røros, to run the coppermines, all wood in reachable areas was cut down. This is high mountain and the plants do not recover so fast, and threes have more problems according to the height and the harsh climate.

The desert at Røros is very small, actually quite exotic, but it lays there still after 300 years and reminds us of the capitalists greed, and their will to destroy the earth if they only can earn money on it. And human nature has not changed much, even if we have better control mechanisms today.



The other rape is Finnmarksvidda, where woods recover very slowly, mining has the latest 100 years given Finnmark new naked moors only with bushes, where there before were threes. Also WW2 raped the woods of Finnmark, the outtake during the war years was about 8 times the estimated reasonable to secure regrowth. It has not recovered yet. Source

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Thore Hund

The greed of humans knows no limits.
If I remember right, also Sahara was once upon a time greener, but got deserted much thanks to humans need for weed, and burning woods to plant in the ashes, then as food for domestic animals. Specially goats, that eats plants to the roots.

There is indeed a theory about a Fertile Sahara which started dissecating during the early Holoscene. This and the existance of a culture/civilisation there is supported by archaeological evidence of pottery and other artifacts. But as far as I know there is no indication that the dissecation of the Sahara was as a result of human action. Populations at that time weren't as large as to make such an impact on environment.

The theories around the Fertile Sahara also point to a migration of its inhabitants westwards (Berbers and Guanches), northwards (Iberians) and eastwards (Egyptians).

In Norway we have had two examples on partial desertification, both related to mining from earlier centuries. That is first at Røros, to run the coppermines, all wood in reachable areas was cut down. This is high mountain and the plants do not recover so fast, and threes have more problems according to the height and the harsh climate.

The desert at Røros is very small, actually quite exotic, but it lays there still after 300 years and reminds us of the capitalists greed, and their will to destroy the earth if they only can earn money on it. And human nature has not changed much, even if we have better control mechanisms today.

Considering that it is Norway, the image is shocking.

I believe that a inverse process is possible. An example could be the Sierra de Espuña in Murcia, Southern Spain. In 1900-1908 the Engineer Ricardo Codorniú realized a project of reforestation of the Sierra de Espuña. Some pictures of Sierra de Espuña today:

[Savage]

Individuals as Ricardo Codorniú are REAL heroes, recreating, conserving and protecting nature, so that other heroes as a consequenze have something worth fighting for...

The three should be known by its fruits?

But of course there are easier perceptable understandings of more macho heroism..

I believe that a sign of true high mental development, are the ability to take care of the enviroment one lives in, instead of destroying it. And we are getting better on it...or at least more conscious of its crucial nescessety.