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Deserts, no one's home but a place for all?

© Glenn Brigaldino

The deserts of the world are hot places we all know, perhaps even first hand. That many of them are moving closer and closer to home may surprise some readers, many who might be accustomed to having an A/C to deal with heat. Other people, less fortunate of having technology and resources readily available, may find their degree of exposure to desert-like conditions steadily on the rise: they may need to lead animal herds on longer journeys to reach water sites, crop harvests may be declining and less predictable, access to much needed resources like water and firewood may be proving harder to find every year.

Desertification has been the term used by researchers, policy makers and the media to refer to this sort of environmental; changes and the related ecological, social and economic consequences observed. (1) While many international organizations, environmental activists, development specialists and even politicians have been taking note and raising awareness as well as taking actions to address problems associated with desertification, the general public is still not sufficiently informed and aware about the issues at stake. This article for the Suite101 is drawn from an early draft on a more detailed document currently being researched. The information and ideas shared at this point will hopefully be of interest and use to Suite101 visitors who wish to get a quick glance at what is meant by desertification and why it affects us all.

A cycle of issues

There is no single definition that sufficiently describes all features of desertification. In different places, desertification means different things to different people. Scientifically, deserts, also called arid regions, characteristically receive less than 10 inches of precipitation a year. In some deserts, the amount of evaporation is greater than the amount of rainfall. Semiarid regions average 10 to 20 inches of annual precipitation. It should be understood that not all desert regions are unnatural or the product of land abuse, rather such regions have always existed. What is of growing concern is the increasing negative results form growing interactions between human development patterns and the upsetting of natural balances, especially fragile in desert regions.

An obvious example of how human development upsets desert ecosystems relates to desert soils. It has been noted that "development ruins soil. Soil, especially in the desert, is a delicate thing. It provides not only the nutritional medium for various life forms to exchange within, but it also insulates from the elements. This is what assists the drought tolerance of plants."(2)

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