What is desertification? Discover its causes and consequences?

DESERTIFICATION What is desertification? Discover its causes and consequences #society #plastic The UN, which has been fighting desertification since 1994, defines it as the process of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas as a result of various climatic and human factors. With climate change, these factors have only multiplied and it is now considered one of the world's major environmental problems.

Desertification threatens different areas of the planet. Desertification threatens different areas of the planet, from the Aral Sea to the Amazon, across all five continents. 6,000 years ago, the Sahara desert, now the largest desert in the world, was grassland covered with vegetation. The oscillations of the Earth's axis turned this area of the planet from an orchard to a sandy area where almost nothing can grow. In that case, we speak of a process of natural desertification which is in contrast to what is happening currently: large areas of the planet are being desertified at an accelerated rate as a result of human activity and climate change. DEFINITION OF DESERTIFICATION Desertification is the process by which vegetation in drylands i.e. arid and semi-arid lands, such as grasslands or shrublands, decreases and eventually disappears. The concept does not refer to the physical expansion of existing deserts, but to the various processes that threaten to turn currently non-desert ecosystems into deserts. Human activities, including deforestation and the overexploitation of aquifers, accelerate desertification. The effects of climate change, which is also driven by humans, and the destruction it causes in the form of extreme weather phenomena such as droughts, hurricanes, fires, etc. must be added to this. According to the UN, more than 24 billion tonnes of fertile soil disappear every year. In fact, today two-thirds of the Earth is undergoing a process of desertification and, if no action is taken, 1.5 million km2 of agricultural land, an area equivalent to the entire arable land of India, which is essential for maintaining biodiversity and feeding the population, will be lost by 2050. Desertification and desertisation: differences Although they are often used interchangeably, the difference lies in the human influence on the process. In desertisation, the causes of deterioration are strictly natural, as in the case of the Sahara mentioned above, but in desertification, although natural causes also play a role, human activities are a determining factor. ********** for complete article see;/www.iberdrola.com/sustainability/desertification