Desertification is defined by the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.”
Land degradation is in turn defined as the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity of drylands.
The Growing Challenge Of Desertification
Desertification is a global issue that impacts all continents, except Antarctica, and poses significant challenges to the livelihoods of millions of people, particularly those residing in drylands.
Desertification occurs globally in arid regions, impacting local, national, regional, and global scales. Its far-reaching effects are felt across the world, from the local communities to the entire planet.
- Drylands cover about 41% of the Earth’s land surface and are home to roughly 2 billion people.
- Water scarcity in these areas limits the production of crops and other essential ecosystem services.
- Estimates suggest that 10–20% of drylands are already degraded.
The Impact On Population
- Approximately 1–6% of the dryland population lives in areas affected by desertification, with a larger number under threat.
- If unchecked, desertification could reverse human well-being improvements and impede basic needs fulfilment.
The Role Of Ecosystem Services
- A more significant threat in drylands than in non-dryland systems is the persistent reduction in ecosystem services due to water scarcity, intensive use of services, and climate change.
Freshwater Scarcity And Climate Change
- The intensification of freshwater scarcity due to climate change will cause more significant stresses in drylands.
- If not mitigated, these stresses will exacerbate desertification.
Vulnerable Regions
- The most vulnerable areas are sub-Saharan and Central Asian drylands.
- In Africa’s key regions—the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and Southeast Africa—severe droughts occur once every 30 years on average.
- These droughts triple the number of people exposed to severe water scarcity at least once in every generation, causing major food and health crises.
Understanding Desertification
- Desertification results from a long-standing mismatch between demand and supply of ecosystem services in drylands.
- Dryland ecosystems are facing growing demands to provide services like:
- Food
- Forage
- Fuel
- Building materials
- Water for humans, livestock, irrigation, and sanitation
Human Influences
- The increasing pressure is due to a mix of human factors, both direct and indirect.
- Indirect factors include:
- Population pressure
- Socio Economic and policy factors
- Globalisation-related issues like disruptions in international food markets
- Direct factors include changes in:
- Land use patterns
- Climate-related processes
Climatic Contributors
- Significant climatic factors include:
- Droughts
- Projected decrease in freshwater availability due to global warming
- The interaction of these factors, both globally and regionally, is intricate yet can be understood at the local level.
Desertification And Climate Change
- Desertification is influenced by both climate change and human activities. These influences vary in different regions and at different times.
- Climate change, especially increased surface air temperature and evapotranspiration along with decreased rainfall, likely contributes to desertification in certain dryland areas.
- These climate changes interact with human activities to cause desertification.
- Significant human activities causing desertification include expanding farmland, poor land management practices, and increased land pressure due to population and income growth.
How Climate Change Plays A Role In Desertification
- Climate change is expected to worsen desertification.
- Though an increase in CO2 can boost plant growth in dry areas, lack of water often outweighs this benefit.
- There’s strong evidence suggesting aridity, or dryness, will rise in certain regions, but no global trend in dryland aridity has been found.
- The area vulnerable to salinisation, or salt accumulation, is likely to expand in the future.
- Predictions indicate climate change will heighten the risk of soil erosion caused by water in many dryland regions.
How Desertification Causes Climate Change
- Desertification increases albedo, which reduces surface energy and temperature, thereby negatively impacting climate change.
- Through effects on vegetation and soils, desertification alters the absorption and release of greenhouse gases.
- The loss of vegetation and drying of surface cover can lead to more frequent dust storms.
- In certain conditions, arid ecosystems could serve as significant global carbon sinks.
- Both desertification and climate change can reduce ecosystem services and lower ecosystem health in drylands. This includes biodiversity loss.
- These two factors are predicted to lower crop and livestock productivity, alter plant species composition and decrease biodiversity in dryland areas.
- Higher CO2 levels may promote the spread of invasive plant species in some regions.
- A decrease in available resources for herbivores could negatively affect predators, possibly leading to disruptive ecological cascades.
- Projected temperature increases and drought severity in some dryland areas could enhance the likelihood of wildfires.
Global Efforts To Counter Desertification
- The 1992 Rio Earth Summit recognised desertification, climate change, and biodiversity loss as key sustainable development challenges.
- The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) was established by the General Assembly in 1994. This is the only international agreement that links environment and development to sustainable land management.
- The United Nations declared June 17 as “World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought”.
- The period 2010-2020 was named by the UN General Assembly as the United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight Against Desertification. The UNCCD Secretariat led global action against land degradation.
- The UNCCD has 197 parties, including 169 countries affected by desertification. These parties are collaboratively working to sustain and restore land and soil productivity, and to lessen the impact of drought in drylands.
- Since 2017, the UNCCD and its partners have been assisting approximately 70 drought-prone countries in creating national action plans to mitigate the risk of drought disasters.
Steps To Control Desertification In India
The Government of India is implementing several schemes/programmes to combat desertification, which include, inter –alia:
National Afforestation Programme (NAP)
- National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board (NAEB) is implementing the National Afforestation Programme (NAP) for ecological restoration of degraded forests and adjoining areas through people’s participation.
- NAP aims to restore degraded forests and adjacent areas using a three-tier institutional system. At State level, Forest Development agency (FDA) at Forest Division Level and Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) at village level.
- From 2018 to 2021, the states and union territories received an allocation of 157.78 crore for treating an area of 37,110 hectares under the NAP.
National Mission For Green India (GIM)
- The National Mission for Green India (GIM) is an initiative that focuses on the preservation, restoration, and enhancement of India’s forests.
- The mission started its activities during the Fiscal Year 2015-16.
- Rs. 594.28 Crores have been allocated to fifteen states and one union territory, namely Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Sikkim, West Bengal, and Jammu & Kashmir.
- This funding has enabled the creation of plantations across an area of 117503 hectares.
- Over the past three years, from 2018 to 2021, Rs 298.10 crore was sanctioned, and Rs. 233.44 crore of this has been spent.
National Mission On Himalayan Studies (NMHS)
- The National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) manages research projects driven by needs and focused on action.
- These projects encompass various areas like land reclamation, soil conservation, and watershed management model development.
- Over the past three years (2018-19 to 2020-21), NMHS has received and fully utilised a funding of Rs. 10.84 crore.
Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)
- The Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) is part of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna.
- Its goal is to improve rainfed and degraded land areas.
- Various activities are carried out under this programme:
- Ridge area treatment
- Drainage line treatment
- Soil and moisture conservation
- Rainwater harvesting
- Nursery raising
- Pasture development
- Livelihoods
- These interventions aim to facilitate sustainable development.
- They also aim to enhance management of natural resources.
- This contributes to better climate change resilience.