2. Desertification
Desertification – is the change of fertile (good farm land) land
that is too dry or damaged to support life.
Main Causes
Overgrazing- animals eat to much
Over farming- farmers over use the soil
Drought- there is nothing to hold down the good soil since all
of the plants are dried up
4. Desertification
Desertification is threatening the way of life of many West
African farmers.
Solutions – Need to repair topsoil
1. Stop overgrazing or over farming fertile land.
2. New irrigation projects.
3. Pray for more rain.
5. The Sahel
• The word Sahel means
“shore” in Arabic.
• Why is this an
appropriate word to
describe the Sahel?
• Why would it be bad if
the Sahara Desert is
expanding?
8. Land Desertification Facts: Sub Sahara
• An estimated 485 million Africans (65 percent of the entire
African population) are affected by desertification.
• Approximately 22 percent of vegetated land (almost 500
million hectares) of Africa has been lost.
• About 11 percent of total African land area (332 million
hectares) is drylands affected by human/climate-induced
desertification.
11. Dust Bowl Facts: United States
• By 1934, because of years of repeated dust storms,
approximately 100 million acres of farmland no longer had
enough topsoil to grow crops.
• In 1934, only 14.5 inches fell, which caused corn yield
crops to drop by 75%.
• Poor farming practices contributed to the Dust Bowl.
These included: over planting crops and overgrazing, as
well as massive plowing under of natural grasses and
replacing them with crops that weren’t drought resistant
12. Dust
Storms
A massive dust storm
2 miles high traveled
2,000 miles before
hitting the East Coast
on May 11, 1934. For
five hours, a fog of
prairie dirt
enshrouded
landmarks such as
the Statue of Liberty
and the U.S. Capitol,
inside which
lawmakers were
debating a soil
conservation bill.
13. Solutions
1. Irrigation of the
land
2. Crop rotation
3. Planting of
drought resistant
crops
4. limit grazing of
animals