Desertification
Geography: Cambridge International GCSE (2027 Exams), topic 10.3.6
What are the Causes of Desertification?
Desertification describes land getting drier, less fertile and more like a desert. After desertification, it is harder to grow crops and survive in the ecosystem. The main factors that lead to desertification are:
Removal of fuel wood
- Logging and cutting down trees to burn as fuel means that an area has fewer trees. This means that soil is not bound to tree roots and is more likely to be washed away.
- Removing fuel wood increases soil erosion.
Overgrazing
- If livestock eat every plant on a plot of land, then this can again cause soil erosion.
- There will be no roots to bind the soil together and plants may struggle to grow again for a very long time.
Over-cultivation
- Fallow years are held because planting crops in the same place over and over again uses up all the soil nutrients.
- Plants won't be able to grow there in the future and again, soil erosion will happen.
Population growth
- Deforestation to build human settlements, expanding livestock grazing grounds and over-cultivation are all side effects of there being more people on Earth.
- In 1950, the world's population was 2.5 billion people.
- In 2019, the world's population was 7.7 billion people.
Climate change
- Rising temperatures caused by human carbon emissions and the greenhouse effect is likely to lead to more desertification.
- As temperatures rise and rainfall falls, naturally, more places will become desert-like.
- The American Mid-West and Southern European countries could be at risk of this by 2100 if temperatures keep rising.
Soil erosion
- A lack of plants in the ground means that exposed soil and nutrients are more easily blown away.
- Soil erosion reduces the fertility of land and will reduce the efficiency of food production, causing problems for many countries.
Test yourself on Desertification
Which of the following is not a factor causing desertification?
What do we call the process of land degrading to become more like a desert?
What are the factors causing desertification?