Desertification In China: Problems And Causes

Desertification in China Name Institutional Affiliation Desertification in China Desertification refers to the process by which formally fertile and productive land turns into a desert. Desertification can arise from natural phenomena such as drought or following overexploitation of land by humans. When desertification occurs, the land loses its water bodies, vegetation, and wildlife. Throughout human history, desertification has adversely affected human life. It resulted in the fall of empires such as the Carthage and the Roman Empires and to mass displacements of human population. With more agricultural land being lost and more populations being displaced, desertification poses one of the greatest environmental and ecological problem in the world today. Existing deserts such as the Sahara are expanding at an alarming rate. The Gobi Desert is among the fastest moving desert in the world, presenting a big problem to the people of China. The Problem of Desertification in China Desertification in China occurred at an annual rate of 1.01% between 1950 and mid-1970s. This means that approximately 1560 km2 of land turned into deserts. The rate increased to 1.4% (2100 km2) in the period between the mid-1970s and the mid-1980s. Presently, the annual rate of desertification is estimated to be at least 2460 km2. The amount of land that has undergone desertification in China totals to 2,622 million km2. This equals 27.3% of the total land in China (Shengyue & Lihua, 2001). The occurrence of desertification in China can be grouped into four main types. Aeolian desertification occurs as a result of wind erosion, resulting from destruction of vegetation. Water and soil loss desertification occurs as a result of water erosion, such as in the Loess Plateau. Poor management of water results in salinization desertification. Rock desertification is common in the Karst region (Petri, 2017). This increased desertification has taken up productive lands adversely, affecting food production. Moreover, the lives of thousands of people have been affected. Sandstorms that frequently occur also lead to the destruction of crops. People living at the edges of the Gobi Desert are increasingly leaving the region and becoming climate refugees in the cities. When the new China State was founded, processes aimed at improving the land that had undergone desertification were adopted. Though the processes have been relatively successful, only small of the land has been reversed back to productivity. The situation has actually gotten worse in most of the areas. This calls for the urgent establishment of why the long-term measures have not been successful. Causes of Desertification in China Various factors can be blamed for the problem of desertification in China. All these factors arise from the high human pressure on the land. The oversized population is far beyond the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. In an attempt to provide enough food and room for the high population, land and water resources have been overexploited. Natural resources have been overexploited and deforestation has increased. All these factors have led to desertification in China. Climate change has also been a cause of desertification in China and other parts of the world (Feng, Ma, Jiang, Wa...