The Dynamics of Desertification

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Imagine a typical farmer tending his cattle and harvesting his crops, a harmless act. His land is green and fertile, and the beautiful view stretches on forever. Now, conceptualize that healthy land morphing into dehydrated sand...a desert. It is nearly impossible for vegetation and humans, such as this farmer, to survive and thrive on land that receives less than three inches of rainfall each year. Unfortunately, this is not a fiction scenario. Deserts are growing at about twenty thousand square miles every year (Roos). Is that hard to envision? This means some twenty thousand square miles of land is becoming dried up and unusable every single year. What is the cause of all this? The answer is desertification. What exactly is desertification? Desertification can be understood by knowing what it is, how it is caused, where it happens most around the world, and what can be done to prevent it.
In order to understand how desertification is in relation to the world, it must be defined first. To be completely clear, desertification is the process of fertile grasslands becoming unusable desert because of natural causes and poor land use (Collins). This is a widely recognized problem since it is happening so rapidly around the world, not to mention it affects so many people. The numbers are astonishing. Worldwide, two billion people suffer the consequences of desertification (Roos). Not only that, but according to Bogumil Terminski, “Desertification of soils appears to be one of the fundamental causes of hunger in many regions of the world” (Current Dynamics). More deserts equals less land area to plant crops and tend animals. This creates a problem with food shortages in certain areas of the world. Roughly twenty-fou...

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...ading, but it will always be present on earth. All in all, desertification is a controversial problem that occurs all over the world, and requires an immense amount of attention in order to be kept calm.

Works Cited

Collins, Jocelyn. “Desertification.” n.w. Enviro Facts: 1 Feb. 2001. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.
“Deforestation.” National Geographic. n.p. 2013. Web. 13 Jan. 2014.
Dunckel, Ramona, at al. “Desertification of the Sahel”. Cultural Geography . Manda Kalagayan.
South Carolina: BJU Press. 2008. Print. 13 Jan. 2014.
Roos, Dave. “How Desertification Works.” How Stuff Works. n.p. 30 Dec. 2008. Web. 12 Jan.
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Terminsky, Bogumil. “Current Dynamics of Desertification in Africa, Facts and Statistics.” The
Nigerian Voice. n.p. 6 May 2012. Web. 12 Jan. 2014.
“What Areas Are Affected By Desertification?” Curiosity. Discovery Communications: 2011.
Web. 13 Jan. 2014.

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