Desertification is land degradation in dry areas caused by climate change and human activities. It has four categories ranging from light to very severe damage to vegetation and soil. India faces high rates of desertification due to overuse of lands, overgrazing, deforestation, soil erosion, clearing land for construction, and high population growth. Consequences include environmental damage like reduced biodiversity, economic impacts like decreased crop yields and poverty, and social effects like famine. Combating desertification involves raising awareness, planting native trees, sustainable agriculture, community involvement, women's empowerment, and developing rural markets.

1. DESRTIFICATION ITS CAUSES
AND ITS MANAGEMENT
-Kiran h p

2. WHAT IS DESERTIFICATION?
According to the UN desertification is “ land degradation in
arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas are resulting from various
factors including climatic variations and human activities”.

3. CATEGORIES OF DESERTIFICATION
• Light Desertification:In this type of desertification, a very
slight damage occurs in vegetation cover and soil. This
damage does not affect the biological capacity of the
environment and can be neglected .
• Moderate desertification:A medium degree of damage of
vegetation cover occurs and formation of small sand dunes
and salinization of the soil which reduces production by 10-
25%.

4. • Severe Desertification:In this type, spreading of weeds and
unwanted shrubs in the pasture at the expense of desirable
and wanted species occurs as well as increasing of the
erosion activity which affects the vegetation cover and
reduces production up to 50%.
• Very severe desertification:In this type of desertification,
composition of active naked great sand dunes occurs and
formation of many grooves and valleys and the salinization
of the soil which leads to soil degradation.It is the most
serious type of desertification.

5. • India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research predicted that by
2050 approximately 10 percent of India’s land would become
unusable as a result of desertification.
• One of the leading causes for the rapid desertification of India’s lands
is the overuse of lands and excessive grazing.
• Nearly 30 per cent of India is degraded or facing desertification. Of
India's total geographical area of 328.72 million hectares (MHA), 96.4
MHA is under desertification.
• Rajasthan, Delhi, Goa, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Tripura and
Himachal Pradesh—around 40 to 70 per cent of land has undergone
desertification

6. Main causes of desertification ??
• Deforestation
• Soil erosion and Degradation
• Clearing land for construction
• Demographic and economic pressures

7. DEFORESTATION
• Deforestation refers to the cutting, clearing, and removal of
rainforest or related ecosystems into less bio-diverse ecosystems
such as pasture, cropland, or plantations.
• This cutting of trees is derived my many reasons mainly because of
agriculture. These include:
Over-cultivation: This occurs when farmers/ agriculturalists disturb
the soil around the crops too much

8. Overgrazing: This occurs when animals such as sheep and cows are
continuously fed from the same spot of ground. Consequently, this
does not allow the ground to recover causing loss in vegetation.
Poor irrigation Systems: This poorly designed irrigation system will
cause water to be irregular distributed causing some areas to be
either under or over irrigated. This waste of natural resource cause
areas to suffer yield or quality reductions.

9. SHIFTING CULTIVATION

10. FOREST FIRE
• Natural
• Anthropogenic

11. SOIL EROSION AND DEGRADATION
• Soil is the earth’s fragile skin that anchors all life on Earth.
• Therefore, it is one of the most significant resources to humans. In
the past 150 years half the soil structure but also the nutrient
degradation. of the topsoil on planet Earth has been lost which not
only affected
• Degraded lands are also often less able to hold onto water thus
making the land more prone to flooding. This soil erosion and
degradation makes the land more vulnerable to desertification.

12. CLEARING OF LAND FOR CONSTRUCTION
• Due to the radical increase in world population there is a growing
demand for housing, construction of roads and airports.
• These can diversely interfere with ground water resources and
affect the existing agriculture.
• Apart from causing pollution because of the industry, it also
increases quarrying activity which furthermore poses a threat on
the land.

13. DEMOGRAPHIC AND ECONOMIC PRESSURES
• Desertification is encouraged due to
the large production and
consumption patterns rates which
implanted a huge burden on
resources such as water, fossil fuel
and construction material.
• Logging is the cutting, on site-
processing and loading of log trees
on trucks. Since, over the years,
there was a growing demand for
products made from wood logging
has increased.

14. MINING
Surface mining activity causes an immediate degradation of land
which leads to desertification.
• Subsequently, after these mining sites are excavated they are left
abandoned without any reclamation measure. The mining activity
generates dust thus polluting the atmosphere.
• This leads to surface scaling of the site which consequently
reducing the infiltration rate while the run-off increases. Because of
this hydrological imbalance of the area vegetation is further
decreased

15. CONSEQUENCES OF DESERTIFICATION
 Environmental effects
 Economic effects
 Social effects

16. SOIL EROSION
• Soil erosion is increased since there are no trees
anchoring the soil therefore it is blown/washed away.
Nutrients within the soil is also removed by wind or water.
Meanwhile there is an increase in the saline content of the
soil which makes it even harder for plant growth.

17. Biodiversity decline
• Desertification caused
an immediate burden
on diverse flora and
fauna. Due to land
degradation, animal
spices had to migrate to
other areas that
sufficiently satisfied
their needs while others
were at risk of
extinction. Their
disappearance increases
food insecurity
therefore leading to
Famine.

18. Famine & Poverty
• Desertification leads to major drought. As a result, the crop
production is very low making food and water very limited. Prices
are increased hence people who are economically insufficient
fall into poverty which leads to famine.

19. Climate Change
• Climate change, which is partly the result of man’s
activity, is one of the major factors causing
desertification. This is all because of the substantial
pressure placed on land resources and direct
human interference. Meanwhile, desertification
helps to speed the process of global warming. The
removal of trees uncovers the forest floor which
holds moisture. Exposing the soils to the extreme
temperature swings which are very harmful to
the land. This the disruption of the water cycle
threatens the land into permanent drought.

20. Flooding
Without the plant life in an area, flooding is a lot more eminent. Not
all deserts are dry; those that are wet could experience a lot of
flooding because there is nothing to stop the water from gathering
and going all over the place.
Flooding can also negatively affect the water supply.

21. COMBATING DESERTIFICATION
• Raising awareness of the problem
• Planting indigenous trees and shrubs
• Developing sustainable agricultural practices
• Mobilizing and involving people
• Empowering women
• Developing rural markets

22. Raising awareness of the problem
• The Convention to Combat Desertification was adopted on 17 June
1994 and in commemoration of this event “World Day to Combat
Desertification and Drought,” is observed every year on 17 June.
World Day is to raise awareness of desertification and to encourage
actions that would remedy some of the consequences of
desertification and prevent further degradation and loss of soil and
water. Desertification was singled out as a key instrument for
poverty eradication in dryland rural areas. The International Film
Festival entitled ‘Desert Nights - Tales from the Desert’ in Rome in
December 2006 is an example of one such awareness–raising
initiative.

23. PLANTING INDIGENOUS TREES AND SHRUBS
• The benefit of trees is enormous when it comes to preventing
desertification or restoring already degraded land. The first step in
halting desertification is usually the planting of trees to:
• stabilise the soil
• protect it from excessive sunshine, strong winds and the progression
of sand
• intercept the rainfall and protect the soil from splash erosion
• retain moisture and help local recycling of rainfall – water trickles
down through the canopy and is absorbed by the humus layer
• replenish soil nutrients
• absorb carbon dioxide.

24. DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURAL
PRACTICES
• Agroforestry is a practice which integrates high-value multi-purpose trees
and shrubs into farming systems.
• Agroforestry systems include alley cropping, windbreaks, riparian buffer
strips, forest farming, contour ploughing , terracing, gullies and forestry
nurseries.
• The trees shelter land and livestock, provide wildlife habitat and control
soil erosion.
• Leguminous species improve soil fertility, fruit trees provide nutrition.
Riparian buffer zones are areas of forested land adjacent to streams, rivers,
marshes or shoreline, which help to prevent erosion and sedimentation.
They also keep the river cool and this helps to lessen evaporation.

26. Mobilizing and involving people
• The Convention stresses that people who suffer the impact of
desertification, and who best understand the ecosystems in which
they live, must be involved in decisions about how to restore
damaged land and prevent further degradation. Over the years local
populations in Africa have developed techniques for managing soil
and water, domesticating plants and animals, and for forecasting the
weather. Technical innovations are often brought in from more humid
environments without regard for the equilibrium of dryland
ecosystems.

27. Developing Rural Markets
• The convention proposes the promotion of drought-resistant and
saltresistant crops and the development of rural markets. Attention
should be paid to local plants whether they have already been
domesticated or not. It is important to grow a wide variety of plants
that are suited to local conditions.
• Bio-diversity of crops helps to ensure both healthy soil and food-
security. system reduces the damage to the land and alleviates some
of the negative impacts of mono cropping.