Combating Land Degradation and Desertification

Land degradation cancels out gain advances by improved crop yields and reduced population growth. The rate at which arable land is lost is about 30-35 times the historical rate. The loss of potential productivity due to soil erosion world wide is estimated to be equivalent to some 20 million tons of grain per year. (UNEP, 1999).

Desertification refers to the environmental deterioration in drylands, arid and semiarid lands. People affected by land degradation are mostly the land dependent rural poor. It has its greatest impacts in Africa, causes freshwater scarcity, food insecurity, famine, poverty, migration, resource conflicts and environmental deterioration.
Harmful human activities, such as overgrazing, over-logging and collection of firewood, unsustainable irrigation practices, together with global warming hamper the fight against desertification.

Severe land degradation has affected a significant portion of the earth's arable lands. About 75% of the farmland in sub-Saharan Africa is plagued by severe soil degradation.

About 30% of the Earth's total land surface is degraded by desertification.

It is estimated that the livelihood of 250 million persons worldwide is directly affected by desertification.

Annual income loss due to desertification amounts to approximately US$45 billion globally.

Desertification affects the global biodiversity. 27,000 species (three per hour) are lost each year.

People displaced by desertification put new strains on natural resources and on other societies nearby and threaten international instability.

Source: The International Development Research Centre

Can We Win Desertification?
Solving the land degradation is a very long and tedious process, requiring very strong commitment from all levels, especially the full awareness and participation of the land owners. It's far cheaper to prevention desertification, through sustainable solutions of soil preservation and enhancement of soil cover and soil organic, than to recover degraded land.

Sustainable solutions include:

Address the root causes of land modification such as overgrazing, unsustainable farming (e.g. cattle farming), illegal logging and timber extraction for commercial benefits.

Soil management: Fixating and enriching of soil by proper crop rotation to restore back the lost fertility. Effective approach should combine technology, policy and institutional options with the participation of land users. Fixating the soil is often done through shelter and cover approaches or a combination of both:

In the shelter approach, the use of shelter belts, woodlots and windbreaks. Windbreaks are made from trees and bushes and are used as wind breakers to check runoff, reduce wind velocity to reduce soil movement and soil erosion. This barrier approach uses banks or walls such as earthen structures, grass strips, or hedgerows to check runoff, wind velocity, and soil movement.

Jojoba plantations, have played a role in combating edge effects; and construction of a wall effect on desertification in the Thar Desert, India. (Pic: Newworldencyclopedia.org)

The cover approach maintains a soil cover through the use
of cover crops, mulch, minimum tillage or agro-forestry.

The "Green Wall of China" afforestation project in north-eastern China, stretching more than 5,700 km, nearly as long as the Great Wall of China, to protect Beijing from dust and pollution cost € 6 billion.
Residents is seen covering sand with stalks before planting trees to roll back desertification in Xinjiang, aiming to prevent further expansion of the Gurbantunggut and the Taklimakan deserts. (Capetown.china-consulate.org)

Soil conservation basically is the prevention of soil erosions, so as to maintain the appropriate level of organic matters and nutrients in soil, preventing buildup of salinity and toxic pesticides, thus improving soil structure and soil fertility. For land use to be sustainable, soil conservation is essential.

Agroforestry engagement with increased use of mixed crop-tree-livestock systems, increasing people's income, discouraging illegal forest activities. Agricultural wastes help to improve soil fertility.

(Photo: Multi Cropping in India: Hort.purdue.edu)

Getting a clearer picture of the success story in combating desertification in China would serve as a useful guide on strategies and policies to be adopted by individual country.

China is a pioneer in combating desertification. Decades of concentrated work, innovative sand control techniques were developed and significant research results accumulated. China's strategy includes

Fixation techniques for mobile sand dunes,

Aero-seeding over shifting sand dunes,

Narrow strip planting,

Straw checkerboard networks, windbreaks
- helped open up 1.3 million ha of new farmland; 11 million ha of desert-affected farmland and protect 9 million ha of degraded grazing land

Agroforestry ecosystems: grain and grass fodder production increased 10 - 20%

Integrated management plans for erosion control that include hills, watersheds:
- Over 8 million ha of fuelwood plantations were established to meet the daily needs of five million local households; wind mills and solar energy were also used as fuel supplements.

By 1988 plantations established mainly for desertification control covered 10 million ha. Forest coverage in northern China rose to 12% from seven% in the 1970s, with 10% of the degraded land under control. Afforestation is the primary factor increasing forest cover in China. Erosion was reduced over a 570 000 km² area.

Integrated Planning and Management approach in combating desertification forms an integral part in China's socioeconomic development plan. Viewing the combat on a basis that needs long term commitment coupled with scientific and technological skills, many higher academic institutions have set up departments of soil and water conservation and desert control to better equip the younger generations in this direction.

References and related news:

UNCOD United Nations Conference on Desertification
CCD secretariat in Bonn, Germany,
The World Bank,
The Food and Agriculture Organization,
The United Nations Sudano-Sahelian Office (UNSO).
United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification
Overview of Land Desertification Issues ....in China: Fao.org
Desrtification:Icarda.org

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