Desertification
Desertification is the process of large areas of grass land turning into desert because of human action and climate change. Desertification results in a dry land where there is little vegetation, practically no clouds in the sky and nothing to reflect the sun back. If we don't stop desertification soon there will be less food, because soil will be less usable. Vegetation will disasppear or be damaged. Desertification also causes dust storms, low quality of water and that all hurts us.
This picture above shows where the deserts are. China and Africa have the largest deserts.Arguably, one of the reasons China has large desert areas is because they have high poplution and the intensity of farming has been high. Desertification may be more noticable in Africa because it's close to the equator.
How Does a Grass Land Turn into a Desert?
What converts a grass land into a desert? Here is what I found. In some cases trees are cut down for cattle. Cattle eat the grass and they don't give the grass a chance to regrow. Farmers also give no chance for the soil to recover because they keep farming the same land over and over and don't let the land recover. Low rain fall is another problem that is causing desertification and can happen because the global temperature is rising. Drainage of water is causing the desertification whether there is farmers or not. Lastly there are poor farming techniques that cause big problems because fire takes the moisture away from the soil.
solutions
I think what we should do to prevent desertification is to bulid wind breaks which protect the soil from being blown away and it also keeps the moisture in the soil. Secondly, we should help farmers to understand proper crop rotation. Farmers should also start growing plants, trees and grass and that keeps the moisture in the soil.
top 5 largest desert areas
deserts location approximate area
(square km)1. Sahara Desert Northern Africa 9.10 million km2
2. Arabian Desert South-West Asia 2.33 million km2
3. Gobi Desert Central Asia 1.29 million km2
4. Patagonian Desert Argentina/ Chile 673,000 km2
5. Great Basin Desert United States 492,000 km2
