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Topic: Desertification

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	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Desertification means land degradation in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.
		Modern desertification arises from the demands of increased populations that settle on the land in order to grow crops and graze animals.
		Desertification is widespread in many areas of China.
	wikiwhat.com /encyclopedia/d/de/desertification.html (333 words)

	Encyclopedia :: encyclopedia : Desertification (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas into desert, resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities.
		It is a misconception that droughts cause desertification.
		Desertification became well known in the 1930s, when parts of the Great Plains in the United States turned into the "Dust Bowl" as a result of drought and poor practices in farming, although the term itself was not used until almost 1950.
	www.hallencyclopedia.com /Desertification (1646 words)

	Desertification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities.
		It is a common misconception that droughts cause desertification.
		Desertification became well known in the 1930s, when parts of the Great Plains in the United States turned into the "Dust Bowl" as a result of overgrazing, drought, development of colonies and poor practices in farming although the term itself was not used until 1950.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Desertification (2093 words)

	Desertification
		One of the impacts which global warming may have on the surface of the Earth is to exacerbate the worldwide problem of desertification.
		Desertification was defined at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 as "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations and human activities".
		Desertification involves the depletion of vegetation and soils.
	www.ace.mmu.ac.uk /eae/Global_Warming/Older/Desertification.html (432 words)

	Desertification
		Increasing human population and poverty contribute to desertification as poor people may be forced to overuse their environment in the short term, without the ability to plan for the long term effects of their actions.
		It is possible that desertification of the Karoo began in the last century, when sheep were first introduced, and before good records were available for the area.
		Desertification often occurs over many generations, on a very large scale and so it is difficult for individuals to take action.
	www.botany.uwc.ac.za /Envfacts/facts/desertification.htm (904 words)

	Desertification (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Desertification is a process whereby the productivity of drought- prone land decreases because of a variety of factors including deforestation, overcultivation, drought, overgrazing (poor rangeland management), poor irrigation (waterlogging and salinization), soil erosion, chemical action and other practices.
		Because desertification is a long-term process--long in terms of its development and impact--it is difficult to pin-point its cause and effect relationships.
		Overcultivation, for example, leads to declining soil fertility and falling crop yields, crusting of exposed topsoil by rain and sun, increased surface runoff and accompanying erosion of soil and gullying, wind erosion, encroachment of sand dunes on arable land and destruction of crops by dust-bearing winds.
	www.lehigh.edu /~kaf3/books/reporting/desert.html (940 words)

	Deserts and desertification
		Desertification can be stopped, but unfortunately is usually is brought to public attention when the process is well underway.
		Desertification takes place in dryland areas where the earth is especially fragile, where rainfall is nil and the climate harsh.
		Desertification creates conditions that intensify wildfires and stirring winds, adding to the tremendous pressure to earth's most precious resource, water, and, of course, the animals dependant on it.
	www.didyouknow.cd /deserts.htm (372 words)

	FAO : SD Dimensions : Environment : Environmental conventions and agreements
		Desertification, as defined in Chapter 12 of "Agenda 21" and in the International Convention on Desertification, is the degradation of the land in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid dry areas caused by climatic changes and human activities.
		The vulnerability of land to desertification is mainly due to the climate, the relief, the state of the soil and the natural vegetation, and the ways in which these two resources are used.
		Another consequence of desertification at the local and global level is the reduction in biodiversity, since it contributes to the destruction of the habitats of animal and vegetable species and micro-organisms.
	www.fao.org /waicent/faoinfo/sustdev/EPdirect/EPan0005.htm (1725 words)

	Tiempo issue 8: Desertification: the scourge of Africa
		Nowhere in Africa are the effects of desertification felt as in the arid, semi-arid and sub-humid lands.
		Accelerating desertification is largely responsible for the fact that many countries in Africa south of the Sahara are losing the capacity to feed themselves.
		The recent assessment of desertification and drought by the United Nations Statistical Office (UNSO) shows that the main threats to sustainability in the Sudano-Sahel zone are low and erratic rainfall, coupled with soil erosion by wind, water and the drying up of surface water resources and the depletion of ancient groundwater and salinization of soils.
	www.cru.uea.ac.uk /cru/tiempo/issue08/desert.htm (2506 words)

	United Nations Division for Sustainable Development- Sustainable Development Issues - Desertification and Drought
		Deserts are among the "fragile ecosystems" addressed by Agenda 21, and "combating desertification and drought" is the subject of Chapter 12.
		Desertification affects as much as one-sixth of the world’s population, seventy percent of all drylands, and one-quarter of the total land area of the world.
		In addition to addressing desertification and drought in Agenda 21, the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit) also called upon the United Nations General Assembly to establish an Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INCD) to prepare, by June 1994, a Convention to Combat Desertification, particularly in Africa.
	www.un.org /esa/sustdev/sdissues/desertification/desert.htm (272 words)

	Len Milich: Desertification
		Whether or not the deserts are growing, their population surely is; for example, drylands in the Middle East cover 99 percent of the surface area, and the region's rate of population growth is approximately 3 percent per year.
		Common indicators of desertification include a reduction in the amount and diversity of plant and animal species, loss of water-retention capacity, lessened soil fertility, and increasing wind and water erosion.
		A 1990 expert meeting on desertification held in Örenäs, Sweden, contributed the following: "There is inadequate public and political understanding of the concepts and extent of desertification, and frequent statements on rapid and large-scale desert encroachment cannot be substantiated.
	ag.arizona.edu /~lmilich/desrtif.html (830 words)

	IUCN - Desertification
		A controversial debate surrounds the definition of desertification, what causes desertification and how it is manifested, where it occurs, and how it links to natural phenomena and to human actions.
		Desertification is considered as one of the major global environmental challenges we face today.
		As the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) states, desertification is potentially the most threatening ecosystem change impacting the livelihoods of the poor.
	www.iucn.org /themes/cem/ecosystems/drylands/desertification.html (513 words)

	Desertification
		Desertification is becoming a major problem as more and more of the world's land surface is turned into desert.
		In poorer countries, farmers often know what needs to be done, but they and their families live so near to starvation that they cannot even afford to buy what they need to keep their families healthy, let alone attempt to solve their problems.
		It was not possible to reverse desertification in the twentieth century, but it should be possible to do so in this century, if the peoples of the world are prepared to unite and fight against the encroaching deserts.
	www.yptenc.org.uk /docs/factsheets/env_facts/desertification.html (876 words)

	Desertification
		UNCOD concluded that desertification was of global magnitude and affected adversely large areas and populations in all continents, and adopted the Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (PACD), which was endorsed by the UN General Assembly that same year as one of the major world programmes.
		Desertification has a considerable bearing on overall economic performance and prospects in the majority of African countries affected by the process as these countries rely heavily on their drylands as the main resource base.
		Desertification as an environmental phenomenon cuts across international boundaries, hence it calls for cross- boundary co-operation, particularly at sub-regional level where the experiences, efforts and technologies could be shared by neighboring countries having similar problems and similar ecological conditions.
	grid2.cr.usgs.gov /des/unced.php3 (16494 words)

	What is desertification?
		As indicated in Article 1 of the UNCCD, "desertification" means land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.
		Desertification affects seventy percent of the world's drylands, amounting to 3.6 billion ha or one fourth of the world's land surface (Down to Earth, UNCCD Secretariat).
		Asia possesses the largest land area affected by desertification, seventy-one percent of which is moderately to severely degraded.
	www.gm-unccd.org /English/About/desertification.htm (642 words)

	Desertification
		Dryland degradation or desertification is widely believed to be a major global environmental threat, to which the international community has responded with the United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) and a Convention to Combat Desertification.
		The region was the cradle of the desertification debate and it suffered several devastating droughts and famines between the late 1960s and early 1990s.
		An important application of the new global inventory is to study the impact of degradation on the function of the Earth as a whole and also on the well-being of the vast population that lives in the semi-arid parts of the world.
	www.geog.umd.edu /research/projects/Desertification.htm (378 words)

	About Desertification
		Desertification is assumed to be caused by a complex relationship involving human impact on arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas (dry lands) - but excluding hyper-arid deserts.
		Unfortunately desertification is the most severe in the countries least able to afford it - particularly the least developed countries of western and southern Africa.
		Desertification is not only soil erosion but potential genetic erosion of the plants, animals and microorganisms that form the living elements of the dryland environments.
	www.the-human-race.com /pages/about_desertification.htm (3422 words)

	Desertification
		Desertification is the expansion of dry lands due to poor agricultural practices (e.g.
		Desertification spreads outward from any where excessive abuse of the land occurs and far from any climatic desert.
		Desertification is a global problem occurring in many places but is prevalent along the margins of semiarid and arid lands in Asia, central Australia, portions of North and South America, and Africa.
	www.uwsp.edu /geo/faculty/ritter/geog101/textbook/biogeography/desertification.html (534 words)

	Desertification (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Desertification refers to the degradation of soil in Arid, semiarid and subhumid lands due to the Climate Variability and some human activities.
		The mexican belt of desertification is a wide strip that advances from Chiapas to Baja California -It includes a great portion of the Mexican Central Plateau (Anahuac Plateau), like the states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Durango, Zacatecas, Coahuila, and San Luis Potosi.
		The desertification is established as the loss of the fertile layer of soils (humus), which is the layer that gives support to wild or cultivated plants, whether.
	www.biocab.org /Desertification.html (1278 words)

	MA Desertification Synthesis
		The authors rank desertification – land degradation in drylands as a result of climatic factors and human activities – among the world’s greatest environmental challenges, destabilizing societies by deepening poverty and creating environmental refugees who can often add stress to areas that may not be degraded.
		Impacts of desertification are exacerbated by political marginalization of the dryland poor, and the slow growth of health and education infrastructure.
		Desertification is not the result of drought alone, as often believed, says co-author Gregoire de Kalbermatten, of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification.
	www.inweh.unu.edu /inweh/MA/MA_report.htm (1269 words)

	UNESCO Water Portal newsletter No. 144: Desertification
		The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is celebrated every year on 17 June all over the world in order to highlight the fact that desertification is of global concern and to strengthen the visibility and importance of the drylands issue on the international environmental agenda.
		Desertification is found to some degree on 30% of irrigated lands, 47% of rain-fed agricultural lands, and 73% of rangelands.
		In Africa alone, 36 countries are affected by desertification or by land degradation, and an estimated 75% of the continent's farmland is rapidly losing the basic nutrients needed to grow crops.
	www.unesco.org /water/news/newsletter/144.shtml (1616 words)

	Issue in Focus: Desertification: Earth's Silent Scourge
		The word "desertification" may not be familiar to some readers; however, it goes to the core of global environmental concerns that increasingly preoccupy people on all continents of the globe.
		Although some aspects are hidden from human sight, desertification affects everybody on the planet by robbing global soil of nutrients, degrading agricultural production, spreading dust throughout the globe, contaminating water, and making it far more difficult to remedy poverty and hunger.
		Chapter 3 discusses the early signs of desertification that need to be tracked in order to "take action to reverse land degradation before it becomes severe." Such observation can involve data relayed from space satellites to computers, as well as local research and awareness.
	usinfo.state.gov /products/pubs/desertific (493 words)

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