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Desertification
The progressive destruction or degradation of existing vegetative cover to form desert. This can occur due to overgrazing, deforestation, drought, and the burning of extensive areas. Once formed, deserts can only support a sparse range of vegetation. Climatic effects associated with this phenomenon include increased albedo, reduced atmospheric humidity, and greater atmospheric dust (aerosol) loading. (source: EPA) Background from Wikipedia Ship stranded by the retreat of the Aral Sea Desertification is the degradation of land in arid, semi arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors including climatic variations, but primarily human activities. Modern desertification usually arises from the demands of increased populations that settle on the land in order to grow crops and graze animals. A major impact of desertification is biodiversity loss, and loss of productive capacity, such as the transition from grassland dominated by perennial grasses to one dominated by perennial shrubs. In the southwestern deserts of the United States, semiarid ecosystems dominated by perennial bunchgrasses, including blue grama and black grama, have been replaced by shrublands dominated by creosotebush since the early 1900s. The change in vegetation is thought to have induced desertification in this region. In the Madagascar central highland plateau, virtually ten percent of the entire country has been lost to desertification due to slash and burn agriculture by indigenous peoples. AllAfrica.com,In its efforts in fighting desertification and contribute to the beautification of Abuja, residents of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) have been urged Sweatin’ the Mediterranean Heat - 22 Oct 2007 RealClimateThus, the Mediterranean region is at high risk for desertification. Even if 2007 were an anomalously dry year, these disastrous events show us that small Chewing the fat - 22 Oct 2007 New Statesman,Flooding and extreme weather have the capacity to cause hundred of thousands of deaths throughout the world, whilst desertification and rising sea levels Cohesion policy: Positive assessment of National Strategic ... - 22 Oct 2007 EurofundingMag,...decontamination of land to prepare it for new economic activities, and protection against environmental risks (eg desertification, droughts, Choosing Joy. Being How To Interpret Science Language - 22 Oct 2007 American Chronicle,Many of the measures associated with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) remain unimplemented. Yemen Mocha: The Song of Yemen - 22 Oct 2007 Yemen Times,...cash cropping which exhausts the land causing deforestation and desertification among other practices, such as industrialization of the poultry and Amazon plant diversity still a mystery - 22 Oct 2007 Mongabay.comMr. Hopkins states that the issue which worries him most is sudden desertification: the Amazon undergoes what he describes as a “flip-over climate�. FACTBOX: Five facts about desertification - Oct 8, 2007 Reuters...(Reuters) - About 1.2 billion people are at risk from desertification as deserts expand and degraded dry lands cover close to a third of the world's land Premier vows to curb desertification - Oct 2, 2007 China Daily,BEIJING -- China should make utmost efforts to control desertification and sandification and rebuild the ecological system, said Premier Wen Jiabao during UAE Minister addresses Unesco conference - Oct 21, 2007 Middle East North Africa Financial Network,...range of challenges in the fields of education, science, water, fighting desertification, renewable energy sources, heritage and social transformation. Desertification in Konya Plain becomes critical - Oct 14, 2007 Today's Zaman,...“Konya is face-to-face with the danger of the extinction of its water sources and desertification if present situation persists� says Nalbantçılar. 4-Country Project Against Desertification Begins - Sep 27, 2007 Chosun Ilbo,The forestry ministries of the four countries have formed a cooperative body for the prevention of desertification in the Central Asian region called the Nigeria: FG, Israel, Unity Bank in $15bn Deal On Desertification - Sep 24, 2007 AllAfrica.com,UNITY Bank Plc has entered into a $15 billion land reclamation deal with the federal government and government of Israel with a view to halting desert YEMEN: Land degradation threatening farmers, says senior official - Oct 18, 2007 IRINnews.org,Ali al-Dhameri, head of the Anti-Desertification Unit at the Forests and Desertification Control Department (FDCD) at the ministry, told IRIN that 95 CILSS assesses its desertification control programme - Oct 9, 2007 Afrique en ligne,The "Regional initiative-Global environment, desertification control" programme was launched with the goal of making accessible the financing of the French Chinese Premier vows to curb desertification - Oct 8, 2007 CCTV,Premier Wen Jiabao says China should work hard to control desertification and rebuild its ecological system. Premier Wen this week made an inspection tour The Fight Against Desertification: An International Meeting - Oct 3, 2007 Green Options blog,By Heidi Strebel Sep 4, 2007 Currently over 250 million people experience the direct consequences of desertification. Many of them are the world’s most China Pushes For Greater Control Over Desertification - Oct 2, 2007 AHNBeijing, China (AHN) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao vowed on Monday to control desertification in the country, while rebuilding the ecological system. Global plan tackles neglected issue of desertification - Sep 27, 2007 Reuters AlertNet,China, which is plagued by sandstorms every spring, has embarked on a campaign to plant billions of trees and says it's slowing the rate of desertification, Joint program launched to harness Inner Mongolia desert - Oct 15, 2007 China Daily,KOICA's collaborative programs in China are mainly focused on the environmental sector including afforestation, prevention of desertification, Peace Prize political? There's a shock - Oct 16, 2007 Arizona Republic,The scientific measurement of rising sea levels and increased desertification, among other environmental changes, have political repercussions because of Desert expansion threatening Mogao Grottoes - Oct 11, 2007 China Daily,Wang Jihe, head of the Gansu Desertification Prevention Bureau and also a member of the research group told Xinhua that the desert is spreading its Gore's Nobel Prize marks severity of global warming - Oct 12, 2007 Boston Globe,Droughts, floods, desertification, and crop failures upend whole societies, creating refugee crises and resource wars. The horrors of Darfur, in many ways a Nobel Peace Prize ups pressure for climate action - Oct 12, 2007 Reuters South Africa,Many experts say that creeping desertification, linked to climate change, is an underlying spur to the conflict in Darfur, Sudan, where 200000 people have Nigeria: FG Restates Commitment to Protect Environment - Oct 9, 2007 AllAfrica.com,She said that while disaster threats related to drought and desertification are very common in the north, the problems of soil stability have devastated The Global Water Crisis: Innovations to Watch For - Sep 23, 2007 Wall Street JournalAnother major environmental problem is that of land desertification or degradation. While sustainable provision of water and sanitation for the growing Senegal's President Pursues Trade, West African Stability during ... - Sep 30, 2007 Voice of AmericaDesertification has to a large extent eaten away a sizeable part of the Senegalese agricultural cake and you do have a high number of Senegalese, Malians, The Right Choice - Oct 12, 2007 ORF.at,But a recent study by the UN Environmental Programme suggests the roots of the fighting are to be found in failing rains and creeping desertification. Global warming watchdog - Oct 20, 2007 Standard,For five years, between 1980 and 1985, he was the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of Unep on desertification and its effects. This Desert Flower: Israel's Negev Desert - Sep 28, 2007 Green Options blog,In fact, desertification is one of the biggest environmental problems the world has, and it’s getting worse all the time. The UN Convention to Combat Revitalizing China's Dust Bowl - Oct 8, 2007 WorldChangingDesertification now affects fully one-third of the world's population -- and what's happening in Western China represents the largest conversion of NOBEL PEACE PRIZE AWARDED FOR WORK TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT GLOBAL ... - Oct 14, 2007 Sentido.tv,Further desertification, the "advance of the Sahara", threatens to return Sudan to multi-party civil war. More global cases involve countries like China, New light on Libya as Gaddafi's son grows in power - Sep 28, 2007 Sydney Morning Herald,He reeled off statistics about the rate of desertification and calculations of the tens of thousands of jobs that could be created in fisheries, Beware desert! - Canaries face an arid future, unless … - Oct 6, 2007 Fortnightly Tenerife News,In bald terms it stated in a draft document that between 60 and 80% of territory in the Canary Islands is in danger of desertification. It is, of course, Green Gore scoops peace prize - Oct 12, 2007 The South African Star (subscription),Many experts say that creeping desertification, linked to climate change, is an underlying spur to the conflict in Darfur, where 200 000 people have died. Venezuela presented gas project of the South in the UN conference ... - Sep 26, 2007 Mathaba.Net,The official also remarked that almost 4 million square kilometers of land in the south are being affected by desertification. “For this reason, as a South Siquijor to green Manan-ao 'white hills' - Oct 21, 2007 Sun.Star,The hills isopen and barren and look like they are in an advance stage of desertification--which means the area could become a desert in due time. Greece: six new challenges - Sep 28, 2007 Spero NewsGlobal warming and desertification: If current warming trends continue, Greece will face a real threat of desertification. The water table is falling Southern Niger offers a lesson for Darfur - Oct 4, 2007 Reuters AlertNet,After decades of sporadic low-level clashes, the two groups have decided to battle desertification as their common adversary. They are replanting trees and Africa's Niger Announces Plans to Award Two Mobile Operator Licenses - Oct 10, 2007 Cellular-News,Drought cycles, desertification, a 2.9% population growth rate, and the drop in world demand for uranium have undercut the economy. EP focuses on climate change - Oct 1, 2007 European Parliament (press release),One consequence is growing desertification and the degradation of land in dry regions. Over 250 million people are directly affected and about 1 billion UNHCR: Climate change driving forced migration - Oct 1, 2007 Earthtimes.orgNearly every model showing climate change pointed to increased desertification destroying livelihoods in many areas, said Guterres. Global Warming: Keep the Cities Cool - Oct 21, 2007 Commodity Online,...population living in dry lands, changing weather patterns linked to climate change threaten to exacerbate desertification, drought and food insecurity. Call for laws to address Lake Chad conflicts - Oct 9, 2007 Legalbrief (subscription),He noted that desertification had caused lakes in the region to recede and islands to emerge, ownership of which was disputed among fishermen. Global climate change is a working-class issue - Sep 28, 2007 OpEdNews,The world already experiences effects from human-caused climate change — more intense storms and hurricanes, more floods, accelerating desertification, ENVIRONMENT-ICELAND: Hay Restores Eroded Land - Oct 15, 2007 Inter Press Service (subscription),They occur when loose volcanic soil beneath fertile vegetated areas is undermined, leaving behind barren areas and increased desertification. Ghana: Combating Environmental Degradation - Oct 19, 2007 AllAfrica.com,While international environmental concerns are often expressed in broad terms such a desertification or climatic change, the environmental problems of Only 4% of Yemeni land is used to feed the country - Sep 24, 2007 Yemen Times,The report said that the percentage of deteriorating lands increases by 5 percent because of human expansion and 3 percent because of desertification Nigeria: How Can We Make the Environment Safe? - Oct 19, 2007 AllAfrica.com,Efforts are being intensified to address identified natural environmental problems which include those of desertification and drought, land degradation, MP guest speaker at dinner - Oct 2, 2007 Spalding Guardian,...working on The Economist, Mr Huhne first appreciated the impact of poor environmental policy when he saw deforestation and desertification in Tanzania. News index | RSS | News Feed Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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