June 17th: World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought

By Talia Chen

In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 17 the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. In honor of this day, let’s learn more about its meaning and why it is important to raise awareness for desertification.

Desertification is the irreversible degradation of land in dry areas. This means the land in question is no longer suitable for vegetation and remains that way for an indefinite period of time. The phenomena is caused by droughts, fires, deforestation, flawed irrigation, and overgrazing, all of which contribute to a loss of topsoil, the nutrient-rich soil that is needed for plant life. The reason desertification is so alarming is that like many other negative changes in the environment, it’s rate of occurrence will increase with global warming and contribute to a growing lack of natural resources.

Although the term ‘desertification’ may bring up images of a desert reaching out its dusty feelers to surrounding vegetation and raining them, this visualization is inaccurate. A desert is its own ecosystem with plants and animals that have adapted to the harsher conditions of their habitats. Land that has experienced desertification not only lacks water but also lacks fertility and will remain in this barren state for, by human standards, a long time. Desertification should also not be confused with more temporary states of land infertility, such as changes in vegetation according to the seasonal variation of rainfall.

Land degradation negatively impacts more than 3.2 billion people, due to the loss of land that is needed to produce food, water, raw materials, and homes. Although it happens on almost all continents, desertification is most common in Africa, specifically the grasslands of East Africa, the Kalahari Desert, and the Sahara Desert, which cover over 65% of the continent. This contributes to the inhabitability of certain areas, which when coupled with a growing population, leads to an increase in poverty. As yet another result of deforestation and climate change as a whole, desertification is an alarming transformation of land that must be neutralized through protection of vegetation and efficient natural resources management.

Sources:

• World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought | United Nations

• Desertification and Drought Day (unesco.org)

• Defining Desertification (nasa.gov)

• Where is Desertification Happening? | The Borgen Project

Written by Talia Chen