Desertification

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Desertification (also desertification, , or devastation, also Sahel syndrome) in soil ecology refers to the deterioration of soil in relatively dry (arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid) regions, which is brought about by various factors such as climate change and other human (anthropogenic) activities. This soil degradation causes the formation or degradation of the soil. Spread of deserts, semi-deserts or desert-like conditions.

General
Few authors distinguish specifically desertification for natural desertification (including by natural climate changes), and desertification for man-made processes. Both terms are derived from the Latin desertus (= desert), the second also from facere (= make; do). The prerequisite for this is the disturbing intervention of humans in the respective ecosystem. The most common definition by the resolution at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio also includes degradation of land due to climatic changes.

Every year, the earth is currently losing about 12 million more hectares of fertile soil (which corresponds approximately to the arable area of Germany), with a further increasing tendency.

Causes

Desertification can progress through deflation (wind gusts), denudation (water), salinization and skeletonization. The main causes of desertification are based on human actions, so desertification is anthropogenic. In addition, however, natural fluctuations in precipitation levels also play a role in that droughts can trigger or intensify a desertification process.

As a result of the drought – and with it the famine in the African Sahel – the problem of desertification became increasingly important in the early 1970s. The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), first held in Nairobi, Kenya in 1977, agreed that human degradation of the biological basis occurs through the following anthropogenic interventions in nature:
Overgrazing
Overuse
Deforestation
Incorrect watering methods

Overgrazing
For decades, it was considered certain knowledge that overgrazing of arid areas destroys the plant cover, which leads to water and wind erosion and finally, through desertification, leaves man-made deserts. However, researchers in the local region have long pointed out the theoretical and practical weaknesses of this intuitively so plausible model. According to this new approach, desertification by overgrazing usually does not occur in dry areas, because livestock can usually never reach the necessary density due to the unpredictable sequence of rainy and drought years. Local livestock farmers have always included this in their use strategies, which (first o)