How are magic stones used to reduce desertification? ‘Magic stones’ – circles of stones are placed on the ground to hold water on the soil rather than let it run quickly across the surface. This reduces soil erosion.
How do low stone walls help to prevent desertification?
Low stone walls are built along contours of slopes which trap water and soil. This has reduced the desertification and has increased crops by up to 50%.
How can desertification be prevented or reduced?
Desertification can be reduced by adopting the following strategies: Planting more trees - the roots of trees hold the soil together and help to reduce soil erosion from wind and rain. Improving the quality of the soil - this can be managed by encouraging people to reduce the number of grazing animals they have and grow crops instead.
What are magic stones and how do they work?
Magic stones not only help prevent desertification and land degradation, but they also help communities reduce food security by increasing crop yields. This in turn enables farmers to generate more revenue, enhancing their climate resiliency. Here are some examples of magic stones’ effectiveness in several African communities.
How can we prevent erosion of top soil?
This involves building lines of stones along contours (area of land that is the same height). These stones trap soil being transported by the wind so that it is isn’t eroded. Also, the stone lines reduce the flow of water over the surface of the land which means top soil, rich in nutrients, is not eroded.
How do stone lines prevent desertification?
Stone lines are constructed along the contours to slow down the speed of runoff, reduce soil erosion, and enhance water infiltration. In addition, the stone barrier blocks and settles down the sediments transported from the upper slopes. Stone constructions are often used to rehabilitate eroded and abandoned land.
What can be done to reduce desertification?
Strategies to reduce desertification Planting more trees - the roots of trees hold the soil together and help to reduce soil erosion from wind and rain. Improving the quality of the soil - this can be managed by encouraging people to reduce the number of grazing animals they have and grow crops instead.
How do trees reduce desertification?
Planting the trees reverses desertification by preventing soil erosion and providing nutrients for other plants and crops to grow. The tree is a native tree, it puts nutrients back into the soil, provides shelter for crops under its branches and provides fodder for livestock.
How do rock walls prevent desertification?
These stones trap soil being transported by the wind so that it is isn't eroded. Also, the stone lines reduce the flow of water over the surface of the land which means top soil, rich in nutrients, is not eroded. Also, by reducing the flow of water, more water enters the soil.
What is Saudi Arabia doing to stop desertification?
The project aims to develop floodplains and gardens by planting more than 12 million trees and shrubs in 100 locations. It also seeks to rehabilitate more than 225,000 hectares of pasture land in several regions of Saudi Arabia by 2030.
How did China stop desertification?
The Three-North Shelterbelt programme, also known as the "Green Great Wall of China," is a national tree-planting project designed to rehabilitate degraded land and stop the desert encroaching into the fertile grasslands and farmlands of northern China.
Is the best solution on the land desertification?
Because vegetation loss is the primary cause of desertification, as plants play a major part in retaining water and enriching the soil, reforestation programs are among the most effective solutions.
What are 3 strategies to reduce deforestation?
You can contribute to the efforts against deforestation by doing these easy steps:Plant a Tree where you can.Go paperless at home and in the office.Buy recycled products and then recycle them again.Buy certified wood products. ... Support the products of companies that are committed to reducing deforestation.More items...
Can planting trees reverse desertification?
Next, the belief in planting trees is because of all the carbon they will store. However, trees or forests mainly store the carbon in the living and dead plant material and less so in the soil. Thus it is a short term storage that will help but not address either global desertification or climate change.
How does the great green wall stop desertification?
The buffering wall should stabilise soils and keep them moist, it should slow the drying and scouring effects of the wind, and help restore the micro-climate, allowing food crops to grow around the trees.
How do trees reduce landslides?
Trees also reduce landslide risk by lowering soil moisture levels – interception, evaporation and transpiration are the primary mechanisms. These mechanisms, and others, also make trees valuable in land reclamation following landslides.
How do acacia trees prevent desertification?
Acacia trees are very important for their environment: they prevent desertification, as their root system is similar to a “mixed system” composed of a central pivot that can go down to the water table and a lateral system than can hold and avoid the soil degradation.
Why are stone walls built?
E.g. in the Jordan#N#Stone walls are built to stop water running down slopes and washing soil and seeds away.# N#The collected water is used for irrigation of desert adapted plants such as Atriplex.
Why are trees planted in the Thar Desert?
E.g. The Thar Desert#N#Trees are planted to bind soil together to minimise soil erosion. The branches provide shade for crops which enables them to grow further and also bind the soil together.
What are the strategies to reduce the risk of desertification?
This includes water management, tree planting, soil management and using appropriate technology.
What does a stone line do to the soil?
Also, the stone lines reduce the flow of water over the surface of the land which means top soil, rich in nutrients, is not eroded. Also, by reducing the flow of water, more water enters the soil.
How to reduce water use in a garden?
Crops can be grown that don’t need very much water (e.g. olives and millet). This helps reduce water use. Drip irrigation schemes can be set up which means little erosion happens compared to adding a large amount of water in one go. Planting pits or zai involves digging a hollow in the soil and planting crops in them. They collect rainfall and runoff in the depression which means there is a regular supply of water to the plant.
Why are trees important to the Sahel?
Trees also protect the soil from wind erosion as they act like windbreaks. Trees also provide shade which reduces evaporation rates from the soil and reduces temperatures. The Great Green Wall is an example of a large-scale tree planting scheme in The Sahel.
What is the cause of desertification?
Desertification is the persistent degradation of dryland ecosystems caused by variations in climate and human activities. Drylands occupy nearly half the planet's land area, and in 2000 were home to around one-third of the Earth’s population. Drylands are, as the name suggests, areas where water is scarce. In the past, nomadic lifestyles and low ...
What factors led to the Masai to overgraze?
These two factors, along with expanding populations, forced the Masai on to marginal lands. Private ownership of land now limits the Masai’s ability to move, and so leads to overgrazing on these marginal lands. This overgrazing has led to desertification. 1.
What has the Serengiti National Park led to?
The creation of the Serengiti National Park has lead to the overgrazing of marginal lands.
How much of the world's drylands have been degraded?
Up to 20% of the world’s drylands have already been degraded, but the facts are that these changes are affecting the world’s poorest populations. That these populations are the poorest, means that they rely on the local ecosystem more than the inhabitants of developed nations.
Why do trees die?
Trees become a source of firewood that will be used in stoves by local people. The trees may die due to lack of water. It could be argued that funding could be better spent on more effective projects.
How can genetically modified crops help?
Genetically modified crops can help in these situations, as can moving crops from a different area, such as moving early maturing millet from southern to northern Mali.
What are the causes of desertification?
Drought, deforestation and climate change. All of these contribute to the extreme global issue known as desertification. According to the environmental campaign Clean Up the World, desertification is the degradation of land in drylands, which affects all continents except Antarctica.
What are the problems that can be solved by sustainable land use?
Land and water management: Sustainable land use can fix issues such as overgrazing, overexploitation of plants, trampling of soils and irrigation practices that cause and worsen desertification.
What are alternative farming techniques?
Alternative Farming and Industrial Techniques: Alternative livelihoods that are less demanding on local land and natural resource use, such as dryland aquaculture for production of fish, crustaceans and industrial compounds, limit desertification.