The effect of the Green Revolution, over cultivation, and monoculture on Desertification Christopher Yuan

What is Desertification?

• Desertification is the process by which fertile land becomes desert

• Desertification occurs when the productive potential of soil, especially on arid or semiarid land, falls by 10% or more

• Desertification is caused mainly by drought and human activities that reduce or degrade topsoil

• Dry areas cover around 40% of the world’s surface, and are expanding fast

• The Sahara Desert is expanding at 48 kilometers each and every year

• Desertification reduces the amount of land available to plant crops. With an expanding world population, this is bad because it is very possible that we will have a shortage of food in the future if arable land is shrinking

• Desertification can also force family farms out of business, ruining the livelihood of thousands along the borders of areas such as the Sahara Desert

• With less green material, the climate can be affected negatively. More solar heat is reflected into the atmosphere, and less CO2 is absorbed by vegetation.

Sounds bad! Where is it happening?

• Desertification is a worldwide phenomenon. Developed and developing countries both experience desertification, however, developing countries generally have the worst cases of desertification

• This map displays where desertification is taking place around the world.

Why is it happening?• Desertification is mainly a product of

human impact on the environment• Over cultivation, monoculture, and

agricultural techniques characteristic of the Green Revolution have greatly contributed to the phenomenon of Desertification around the world

• Extended drought around the world due to climate change has also caused widespread desertification

• Dryer areas of the world generally experience more desertification – looking at the map on the previous slide, Africa and the Middle East experienced the most desertification

• Deforestation also causes desertification – obviously, fewer trees means that there is less matter to hold soil particles together.

• The phenomenon of desertification was first put into mainstream view with the Dust Bowl of the United States in the 1930s. Poor agricultural techniques by the Midwest farmers caused huge amounts of erosion and reduced the arability of the soil dramatically.

This corn field in the United States is an example of monoculture that contributes to desertification

The Green Revolution• Thomas Malthus created a theory in the late 18th

century that said the world would soon run out of food for everybody

• This prediction may have come true had it not been for the Green Revolution that started in the 1940s

• The Green Revolution is a change in agricultural techniques and the beginning of the implementation of technology into agriculture

• Green Revolution techniques include using genetically modified crops, monoculture, planting densely, high use of pesticides, high use of herbicides, and a using a large amount of machinery

• Although the amount of food produced per unit of land has dramatically increased, many say that Green Revolution techniques are unsustainable– High amounts of herbicide and pesticide put

harmful chemicals in the ground, and result in weeds and insects that are biologically resistant to these chemicals

– Large irrigation setups can result in salinization, or the gradual accumulation of salts in the upper soil layers. Salinization stunts crop growth and can eventually prevent growth altogether in an area

– The planet is being harmed by the techniques practiced by Green Revolution agriculture

Over Cultivation and Monoculture

• Over cultivation simply refers to the act of farming a plot of land too often. In the past, a plot of land would be left to fallow for ten or twenty years before it was used again as farmland. With a rising population and a greater concentration of agriculture, plots of land are used year round, all year. This leads to over cultivation, which causes a shortage of nutrients in the soil. Lack of nutrients in the soil make the soil inhospitable to any crop growing in the area. Eventually, the land will not be used for agriculture anymore. If the land is in a dry area, the topsoil could be blown away and the area could be turned into desert

• Monoculture is the act of planting a single crop on a plot of land year long. The alternative to monoculture is polyculture. Monoculture is used extensively in the modern day because of Green Revolution techniques that give artificial nutrients to the soil allow it to work in the short term. However, many believe that monoculture is non-sustainable because it does leech the soil of natural nutrients. Once gone, it is very hard for the soil to reacquire the nutrients. This can also lead to desertification.

Who is affected?• Local, family farmers are the people who will

be most affected by desertification. Large international corporations can simply buy other plots of land if one dries up. Local farmers, usually farming for their own family’s food, have no such option.

• People in less developed countries are affected more by desertification. Many times, there are not other employment options other than subsistence farming. People may not have skills other than farming skills. In these cases, families would be faced with a lack of food as well as lack of employment.

• All food buyers are affected economically by desertification. Food prices will start to rise if desertification worsens.

Who is helping?• The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has

put together a number of plans to help combat desertification. The organization calls for increased government intervention into how land can be planted, and increased education of the people. If people are better educated about desertification, they will practice better agricultural techniques.

• The Eden Project is an organization based in California that pays workers in Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Haiti to replant trees in areas that are in danger of being lost to desertification. Without organizations like this, the workers would likely be paid to cut down the trees for fuel, or to cut down the trees to prepare farmland. Instead, the workers are helping build a healthier countryside.

• The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification is an entire international organization dedicated to this problem. The organization helps countries to develop policy and educate citizens about desertification.

What should be done, and how can I help?

• In order to stop desertification due to monoculture, over cultivation, and Green Revolution processes, farmers must use agricultural methods that are more forgiving towards the environment. Examples of this include reducing pesticide dependence, allowing plots of land to fallow, and using a crop rotation system to keep nutrients in the soil. Agricultural practices such as no-till planting are also very useful to keeping the soil in place and the moisture in the ground. Reducing irrigation can help reduce the risk of salinization.

• Although it may seem like not much can be done if you are not a farmer yourself, there are actually tons of things that a normal citizen can accomplish to help reduce desertification.– Vote with your wallet! Buy food from your local farmers market. The food grown

here is locally made, and is much more likely to have been planted by hand, and planted sustainably

– Buy organic food. Although this food is slightly more expensive, it will have been made more sustainably than other brands.

– Write letters and emails to local congress members telling them to support educational aid to the countries that experience large amounts of desertification. The first step to prevention is education, and poorer countries in Africa and Asia require foreign aid to set up education programs

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