Physical Processes
Desertification
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Desertification is the persistent degradation of dryland ecosystems, principally by unsustainable farming, overgrazing, deforestation and climate change, rather than the natural expansion of an existing desert's boundary. It threatens land that over two billion people depend on, and the United Nations records the current pace of arable-land degradation at thirty to thirty-five times the historical rate.
Facts
Process Type TimescaleLand degradation typically unfolds over years to decades of sustained pressure, though todays pace is measured by the United Nations at thirty to thirty-five times the historical rate. 1 First Proposed YearThe term desertification was coined by French forester and botanist Andre Aubreville in his 1949 book Climat, forets et desertification de l'Afrique tropicale. This fact is documented on Aubreville's own Wikipedia biography page rather than on the main Desertification article itself. Cross-Tradition Connections
Demonstrated By
The Sahel is the most widely documented real-world region of active desertification pressure.
Sources
1. United Nations
United NationsDesertification background, UN observancesQuote, Desertification background, UN observances
Rather, it is the persistent degradation of dryland ecosystems by climate change and mainly human activities: unsustainable farming that depletes the nutrients in the soil, mining, overgrazing (animals eat away grasses and erode topsoil with their hooves) and clear-cutting of land, when the tree and plant cover that binds the soil is removed.
1. United Nations
2. Andre Aubreville (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationOpening sectionQuote, Opening section
He was the first scientist to introduce the term 'desertification' (in his 1949 book: Climat, forets et desertification de l'Afrique tropicale)
China Efforts to Halt the Gobi Provide a Blueprint for Tackling Desertification (UNCCD)
United Nations Convention to Combat DesertificationDemonstrated By: The Gobi Desert, Story bodyQuote, Demonstrated By: The Gobi Desert, Story body
The Three-North Shelterbelt programme, also known as the "Green Great Wall," is a national tree-planting project designed to rehabilitate degraded land and stop the desert encroaching into the fertile grasslands and farmlands of northern China.
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