Deserts Case Study

Deserts Case Study

1. The Sahel Region

   • Causes/Land use
     • Over cultivation: Land continually used for crops and does not have enough time to recover, depletes nutrients and turns to dust
     • Overgrazing: all vegetation eaten by animals, leaving bare soil, open to erosion
     • Deforestation: Cutting down trees leaves soil open to erosion by wind and rain
     • Climate change: decrease in rainfall through movement of the ITCZ, warmer temps causes vegetation to die
   • Facts and figures
     • Runs through 10 countries
     • Increasing population: 1970=19 million 2013=50 million
     • Separates hyper-arid sahara from wetter and more fertile savanna, 30% rainfall difference
     • 3900km long belt
     • 9 months no rainfall and 3 months heavy rainfall due to moving ~ITCZ and band of heating
     • Mali, Burkino Faso, Niger and Chad
     • 10 million facing food insecurity, 1 million children suffering from severe malnutrition
     • 1968-1973=severe drought contributing to desertification
   • Management Strategies
     • Replanting schemes: Great Green project where they plant trees and maintain an areas from deforestation- sustainable fuel supply but takes a long time to grow
     • Zai pits: Deep planting of crops meaning they have the ability to get water from groundwater stores, used in hard baked land-is hard work
     • Magic stones/contour building: Walls of stones to slow surface run off and hold water in crop growing land-is very labour intensive to move stones
     • Solar cookers: foil on cardboard boxes to attract sunlight and cook whatever is placed inside of it, better than using timber, continual use, creates jobs and social impacts
     • Demilunes: Same as zai pits but planted in a semicircular shape to increase the catchment of surface water and ground water stores
     • Drip irrigation: during the wet 3 months, water is collected and stored. Water is then dripped from stored tanks along pipes to the crops-Will increase yields and give better
     • Managed grazing: combination of farming types in order to keep a certain level of grazing to stop depletion of all vegtation
     • DOWN TO POOR FARMING, LESS RAINFALL CAUSING EXTREME DESERTIFICATION-HARDER TO REVERSE THE EFFECTS

2. Desertification-" land degradation in which a relatively dry land region becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife.

3. Almeria, Andalucia, Southern Spain

   • Causes/Land use
     • Tourism changes: 180,000 holiday home built in the last 50 years = urbanisation (More tourists and more migration for retirement home, greater demand for swimming pools/golf courses-all with a larger demand for water)
     • Intensive farming: Circular greenhouses cover the land and producing water intensive crops due to the cost for water (paying by size of farm rather than water used-so farmers make the most money out of the area available)
     • Need to meet the demands of the Europe food supply, £1.5bn economy in water intensive crops=having to tap into aquifers
   • Implications for sustainability
     • Huge demand for water for agriculture and intensive farming, tourism needs e.g. swimming pools and golf courses --Causes aquifers to be used, when stores low will get filled with salt water, becomes saline and cannot use anymore
     • People building illegal wells to hold rain water and tap into ground water (1/2 million predicted) Poor Laws means that people are getting away with it
     • Rare species lost due to urbanisation and building greenhouses
     • Pressure in rock lost, can result in E-Quakes and sink holes causing major disruption and economic loss
   • Management Strategies
     • Desalinisation plants: cost bn's be removes salt from water but puts toxic slime back into the sea=marine pollution and burning of fossil fuels, excess global warming
     • Recycling used water to other uses than drinking water
     • Pushing for new jobs to bring younger generation back and make the economy more stable
     • Remove intensive water crops and make farmers pay for water used
     • Crack down on illegal wells, laws need to be enforced
     • ALL DOWN TO POOR PLANNING AND NO LAW MANAGEMENT-THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE