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Desertification Essay

Desertification In China Essay Desertification And Deforestation Effec...
Course

Fundamentals of Writing (LAL022)

10 Documents
Students shared 10 documents in this course
Academic year: 2023/2024
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Brian Karlen
Moberly Area Community College
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Desertification In China

In China, changes in climate and population are stressing already vulnerable ecosystems. There is a high risk of desertification in dryland areas and particularly around deserts. Northern and Western China are characterized by harsh physical conditions marked by "sparse vegetation, continental climate, sandy soils and water deficiency." The climate is a large component of desertification. Changes in temperature, wind patterns, and precipitation (all affected by climate change) can trigger desertification in these fragile ecosystems. The scientific consensus i= that natural factors such as climate variation play at least a minor role in desertification. Human activities are considered a major cause or accelerant of desertification. These activities include what conversion of land for agricultural use, overgrazing, deforestation and overwithdrawal of water. There are also anthropogenic causes that indirectly contribute to desertification, including any activity that accelerates climate change, such as burning fossil fuels. Though factors vary spatially and temporally, Chen and Tang confirm that "many research findings have supported the point of view that humans play a leading role in contemporary desertification in north China." In China, rapid population growth has exceeded ecological carrying and restoring capacity. Miao et al. recognize that some still do not see anthropogenic factors as a significant cause of desertification, but suggest the major cause of

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Essay Desertification And Deforestation

Desertification And Deforestation The Amazon Rainforest is probably the most important region that is threatened by deforestation. With over four million squared kilometers it is roughly the size of the United States. The Amazon spreads across nine South American Countries and contains one–fifth of the Worlds fresh water and one–third of the known living species. The land is home to hundreds of indigenous groups and is considered by many to be "the lungs of the planet". Most of the Amazon is still pristine, but the region is being destroyed at an alarming rate. Over 8 million acres of the rainforest are lost every year. Between 1978 to 1996, 12 percent of the irreplacable rainforest was destroyed... more content... The logging industries punch new roads into pristine forests, invade indigenous lands, parks and preserves, and murder those who stand in their way. Brazil does not have the means to fully regulate the logging industries however, the Asain logging companies were fined over one million dollars for illegal logging last year. The loggers have cut more than 3,000 miles of roads into the intact forest regions. The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has taken action against these loggiing industries. Their Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and letter–writing campaign has led the Brazilian National Congress to put mahagony logging on hold for the next two years. Also, President Cardoso has introduced a measure to stop deforestation as a result of farming and ranching. This would limit clearing to twenty percent rather than fifty. RAN has also convinced thousands of U. architects, builders and lumber yards to stop seling and using old growth redwood. The are now calling upon the U. to stop all imports of Mahagony. The biggest threat to the Amazon Basin are the "Mega Projects". The goal of these projects are to create new economic and geographical links between nations. The plan is to criss–cross the region with highways and waterways to access the Amazon's natural resources for commercial trade. These projects are already underway. The Northern Border Highway is a mega–project that will span

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Effects Of Sahel Desertification

The desertification of Sahel is causing devastating environmental issue in Africa. Desertification is the process of how fertile land becomes desert. This is usually cause by drought, deforestation, or poor agriculture planning. If it is overgrazed fields, or even the increase of wood needed to burn, human interaction has helped advance the expansion of desertification. The area currently surrounding Khartoum, Sudan was once covered in small forests, but because of the increasing need for farm land and wood fuel, the forest has become another victim of desertification. The tropical rain forest on the border of Sahel, is also being slowly affected by desertification. In addition, the increasing amount of irrigation systems and drilling are changing

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Desertification Essay

It is widely recognized that desertification is a serious peril to dryland and semi–dryland environments, which cover approximately 40% of the global land surface and populate millions of humans. The global drylands face an innumerable amount of problems that present tough and perplexing research, management and policy challenges. Desertification is the degradation of grasslands, savannas, and woodlands to a more desert–like condition, with resulting decrease in plant production and the land's ability to support livestock grazing or other human uses. (United Nations et al. 2006) The focus of this paper is to identify the causes and effects of desertification and assess how we can use plants to reduce desertification and to provide a.. more content... 2005) Several potential solutions to combat against desertification may include initiatives such as a) education in teaching sustainable practices helping farmers/residents to understand how to best use the land, b) technology advancements using research and awareness in finding new and improved methods towards prevention c) policy changes relating to how people can farm and how types of lands are governed and d) rehabilitation efforts to restore the land that has already been affected. The focus on global drylands is shifting from an emphasis on negative images of desertification to a more forward–looking perspective concerning human livelihoods, based on interactions between and among human activities and natural–world processes. (Reynolds et al. 2007) The Drylands Development Paradigm represents a convergence of insights and key advances drawn from a diverse array of research in desertification, vulnerability, poverty alleviation, and community development. (Reynolds et al. 2007) A new model has been introduced which includes a set of strategies that has been developed to reduce soil erosion by planting vegetation in desertification hotspots. The model reproduces a wide range of patterns observed in water–limited regions, including drifting bands, spots, and labyrinths. It predicts transitions from bare soil at low precipitation to homogeneous vegetation at high precipitation, through intermediate states of spot, stripe and hole

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Of Morocco's 446,550 square kilometers, around 18% of the land is arable which is widely used for agriculture because of the fertile soil. The climate of Morocco is subtropical and moderate, despite interior parts of the country having harsh dessert climate with variable extremes in temperature. Natural resources in Morocco include phosphate, barite, cobalt, fluorspar and lead. Due to the country's fertile land, agricultural products also play a key role in the economy. This includes tomatoes, mandarins/clementines/tangerines, oranges and olives. Morocco also exports consumer goods such as textiles and leather goods with reflects on an abundance of livestock such as cattle and sheep (for wool). ("Economy & Industry.") Drought and advancing desertification is one impact of climate change which is often widely felt in Morocco along with other countries in Northwest Africa. This is especially damaging to the agricultural industry in Morocco. The most apparent changes stemming from climate change are increasing temperatures and reduced rainfall. Increasing population has put pressure on the slow growing agricultural industry which is having trouble meeting the demands of the county's population. With about 3,400 kilometers of coastlines, Morocco is also vulnerable to sea level rise and most of it's economic activity occurs near the coast. This shows that climate change is a real threat to agriculture, fishing, water supplies, tourism and the unique ecosystems of the country.

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The Cause And Effects Of Desertification

Introduction Desertification is the development of desert–like conditions in regions that have experienced human disturbance (Laura, n.). Drought, growing population and war are factors affecting desertification. They have their tremendous impacts; however, they can be solved. Causes Drought is one of the most related factors to desertification. It is defined as a long period of time when there is little or no rain. Drought can be caused by not receiving rain over a period of time. This is because of climate change which has been affecting us badly since many decades. Moreover, humans can be the cause too because they use too much water during times of normal rainfall which leads to the immediate consequence that we might not have enough.. more content... It has been said that growing in population will lead to farming too little land because of crawling buildings in grasslands. The growing population can cause destruction of grass lands and this can cause desertification. Drought and growing populations are not only the two causes of desertification but also there is a third reason which is war. War happens due to many reasons such as economics, land, resources, religious beliefs, and importantly power (Halo3Pro, 2011). War contributes badly to cause desertification. People start eliminating themselves and leaving their lands empty and dusty. A great example that supports this point is the radiation in Japan. When the hydrogen bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, thousands of people were killed. Additionally, the bomb left disastrous environment in the surrounding areas. Chemicals and poisons had destroyed everything including plants and the most fundamental gas for breathing which is oxygen. Although war has massive destruction in many areas in the world which ends up with causing desertification, Oman has been living in peace and it has not been through such

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Desertification As A Global Problem

Desertification is defined by the UN as the "persistent degradation of dryland ecosystems by human activities, including unsustainable farming, mining, overgrazing and clear–cutting of land and by climate change" ("Desertification"). Desertification can also be defined as a process that reduces biological productivity and the intensification of desert conditions (Hellden 372). Although less publicized, desertification is an issue that requires international cooperation as the victims of drought, famine and the numerous environmental problems of dry lands are over 250 million, and more than one billion people in over 100 countries are at risk ("Desertification as a global problem" 1). Additionally, desertification tends to affect.. more content... Although no quantifiable targets were specified in the agreement, which contributed to its ineffectiveness, Goal 15 of the UN's SDGs has a target to "combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation–neutral world" by 2030. Part 2: Desertification Challenges Desertification is an environmental problem difficult to address due to its wide definition and extensive forms of manifestation. According to Warren, the inadequacies of the definitions of desertification, even among the scientific community, has led to a credibility gap and a dismissal of the issue relative to other environmental problems (12). Secondly, there are logistical issues, as sustainably managing dry lands would involve a bottom–up approach and the inclusion of local populates affected by desertification in the decision making process (13). Implementation of the convention was also complicated by the use of National Action Programmes (NAPs), which required identification of causes and solutions to desertification in each country, large research undertakings for which countries have unequal amount of resources to

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Desertification Essay

Course: Fundamentals of Writing (LAL022)

10 Documents
Students shared 10 documents in this course

University: Moberly Area Community College

Was this document helpful?
Desertification In China
In China, changes in climate and population are stressing already vulnerable ecosystems. There is a
high risk of desertification in dryland areas and particularly around deserts. Northern and Western
China are characterized by harsh physical conditions marked by "sparse vegetation, continental
climate, sandy soils and water deficiency." The climate is a large component of desertification.
Changes in temperature, wind patterns, and precipitation (all affected by climate change) can trigger
desertification in these fragile ecosystems. The scientific consensus i= that natural factors such as
climate variation play at least a minor role in desertification.
Human activities are considered a major cause or accelerant of desertification. These activities
include what conversion of land for agricultural use, overgrazing, deforestation and overwithdrawal
of water. There are also anthropogenic causes that indirectly contribute to desertification, including
any activity that accelerates climate change, such as burning fossil fuels. Though factors vary
spatially and temporally, Chen and Tang confirm that "many research findings have supported the
point of view that humans play a leading role in contemporary desertification in north China." In
China, rapid population growth has exceeded ecological carrying and restoring capacity. Miao et al.
recognize that some still do not see anthropogenic factors as a significant cause of desertification,
but suggest the major cause of
Get more content on StudyHub.Vip

Students also viewed

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