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Drought, rain patterns, increasing global temperatures and climate change contribute to the drying out of already arid lands, but these areas are also extremely sensitive to human activity. 10-20% of dry lands are already severely degraded and some reports trace 70% of soil degradation to human-induced reasons, particularly population growth, agricultural technologies, and unsustainable policies. These factors degrade the land and create feedback effects that result in the loss of biodiversity as well as other negative outcomes that affect us all.

What is desertification?

Desertification is a process where a dry area of land becomes arid, losing its vegetation, wildlife and bodies of water, making the area a desert.

The soil of the land becomes extremely dry and useless for growing crops.

Desertification is a huge problem ecologically and environmentally and is one good example of environmental degradation. Desertification can be cause naturally or by human actions.

To stop desertification, vicious circle between population growth, over-graving, depletion of the arable farmlands and deforestation, we can:

2. Better quality livestock and vaccinations can offer a solution to over-grazing. This is also an effective method to increase meat, milk and wool production without having to expend the herd. It is also a way to tackle the growing agricultural demands.

Pros: This method has many side benefits, such as solving starvation and preventing famine, and could solve the problem in the long run.

Cons: A lot of funds are needed to purchase these technologies, and the government has to be really rich. As a result, less fund would be given for cure research, education etc.

3. Better agricultural methods can also reduce soil depletion. Crop yields can be increased trough the use of better fertilizers, pesticides and better quality seeds. The ideal result this method wanted to achieve is that no water is loss, as no water is evaporated.

Pros: This method can tackle the problem in the long run.

Cons: Again, it would cause a massive amount of money to purchase this technology, and the ideal result is hard to achieve.

1. Turn to alternate fuels such as oil and coal instead of firewood and charcoal.

Mali uses 6 million tons of timber per year, meaning 4000 square kilometers is lost to fill these demands. Planting trees and using them for timber is not going to prevent Mali from desertification.

Pros: By having more trees, and preventing large amount of trees being chopped, it can prevent soil erosion. It also provides other benefits such as shades & shelters reduce greenhouse gases and beautified the surrounding.

Cons: It completely relies on the cooperation of the public. And the price of fuel will go up as oil and coal are more expensive than firewood, and less wealthy people might not be able to afford them.

Solution

Desertification in Mali

Laura, Anthony and Anna

Our proposal to solve this problem would be reforestation, it is simple yet very effective. It means to restock the existing woodlands and forests that had been depleted, through planting back more trees. It had many benefits such as improving human life quality but soaking up dust and pollution from the air, and mitigates global warming as it absorbs atmospheric carbon dioxide and gives out oxygen instead during the process of photosynthesis. Most importantly, trees have roots and could prevent excessive surface runoff, so nutrients on the soil would not be washed away, and the land would remain fertile and possible for agriculture and other uses. Many countries had implement these schemes and had been proven a success, for example, United States, Canada, Africa, German and China. Some criticizes that this process compete with other land uses such as food production and livestock grazing, but not to forget, water is valued more than food when it comes down to human necessities. Some think it halts and slows economic growth, but that is untrue as it can be harvest for resources such as timber.

Desertification has huge affects on everyone. Like mentioned before, droughts effect the vegetation, making soil useless and dry. The land is no longer capable of supporting life, like plants and animals.

Erosion by wind and water take away the top layer of soil, leaving a dry and sand like soil to be used.

This results to loss in vegetation and farming. In the long run, this will also cause starvation and famine. But farming can also affect desertification. Intense farming and use of bad irrigation can strip away the nutrients from the soil, so even plants that can survive droughts, die.

The dryness of the soil also creates floods. The water isn't able to soak into the soil anymore, flooding the area.

These droughts and desertification is also expensive to deal with.

Mali

Mali is a republic in west Africa and is located in the Sahel, quite an arid area. It is one of the poorest countries in the world and drought is one of the reasons for this poverty.

The Sahel has a long history with droughts and Mali is frequently hit by droughts. Mali has an annual precipitation of 100-400 mm and this is mostly between June and September.

These droughts affect Mali in catastrophic ways. Cattle die, crops fail and people suffer from famine.

Previous droughts have killed tens of thousands of people.

Mali

Works Cited

"Desertification Effects, Causes, And Examples : Top 10 List." Science Heathen. N.p., 5 Jan. 2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

"11 Environmental consequences of desertification." unesco.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

"Desertification." Greenfacts. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Motkar, Snehal. "Causes and Effects of Desertification." Buzzle. N.p., 31 July 2013. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

"Map of Mali Africa." Geographic guide Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

"Mali." Worldatlas. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Daniel, David. "Timber Architecture: 10 Benefits of Wood Based Designs ." Freshome. N.p., 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

"SPECIAL FOCUS: Desertification: Its effects on people and land." World Ecology Report. 2009. Web. 1 Jan.

"Geography of Bangladesh." DABS Incorporated. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

"Bamako Climate & Temperature." Climatemps.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2015.

Ebook: N/A. Degradation: desertification in Mali, Desertification in Mali. N/A.N/A. PDF file :)

Abdul Rahman Butt. How to fight against desertification. Desertification. Academia. 26 May 2013. Web. 15 November 2015

Mr. Mohammed Ben Attia Jouini Tunisian. Desertification Solutions. Desertification .Greenfacts organisation . N/A. Web. 14 November 2015

“Reforestation”. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 17 November 2014. Web. 14 November 2015

Stanley Silverex. Reforestation. Reforestation. Arkive organisation. N/A. Web. 15 November 2015

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