GEO 200 forum posting
This posting was written by me in one of the courses (Introduction to Physical Geography) at Northern Virginia Community College for the course's discussion board. The discussion dealt with desertification, namely whether desertification in the Sahel is permanent and how the problem can be addressed.
The Sahel drought of the late 1960s and 1970s made headlines worldwide, with desertification becoming something of a household term. More recently (i.e., within my lifetime), I have not heard the phenomenon talked about as often as it apparently was then or as, for instance, Amazon deforestation is today. This is apparently due to the fact that ambiguity as to what constitutes desertification, as well as what causes it, has led to a diminished use of the term. According to Thomas, the United Nations defines desertification as " land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry-subhumid areas caused by adverse human impact" (319). Thomas, however, argues that the Sahara was not encroaching permanently on the Sahel during the drought; rather, the event was a fluctuation of the desert's size due to cyclical rainfall variations (323). He also provides evidence that the loss of productive land was not permanent; early studies, he writes, underestimated the Sahel's ability (resilience) to recover from drought (323).
Another one of my sources concurs. Helldén, two years before Thomas, also argues that the Sahel drought can perhaps be explained by year-to-year variations in rainfall (381). He points out that, during the same period (1962-1984) in the Sudan (which can be thought of as the eastern end of the Sahel), aerial and satellite data show no long-term trend of desert expansion into grasslands—only spells of dryness followed by recovery (379). The drought in the Sahel was accompanied by a healthy population growth of 2-2.5% per year (Breman 330), which makes it tempting to conclude that the expansion of the desert was brought about by population pressure. Yet, according to Helldén, it is very possible that the Sahel drought was but one of many cycles of this type which have occurred in the past millennium (382). Summing up the conclusions of a conference of experts on the subject hosted in 1990 by the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries, Helldén says that the extraordinariness of the Sahel drought has likely been overestimated, as has been human contribution to it, while the resilience of the affected production systems—i.e., their ability to bounce back to productivity—has likely been underestimated (382). According to Helldén, the conclusion was that the phenomenon has not been studied with the thoroughness such a question deserves; as long as this is the case, he writes, "there is a risk that the desertification issue will become a political and development fiction rather than a scientific fact. Anti-desertification measures and land-rehabilitation development projects can only be successful if based on a correct diagnosis" (382). Zeng, writing in Science the following decade, points out that the Sahel drought may have been indirectly caused by multidecadal variations in global sea surface temperature (999). Kerr, writing in the same periodical, provides ample evidence (from satellite data) that the desert is not, in fact, expanding at the expense of semi-arid land (634). There is, indeed, man-made degradation in the Sahel, he says, but it is small in comparison—for instance, overgrazing leading to the replacement of grasses with shrubs, less useful for cattle (634). According to Kerr, Dean Graetz, an ecologist with Australia's Earth Observation Center, believes that the term desertification is thus inappropriate and should be replaced with land degradation (634). It seems, then, that by approximately the year 2000 there was a strong opinion, if not a consensus, in the scientific community, that Africa's deserts are not on an expansion trend, but degradation of pastureland is an issue. The question, then, should be, "will land degradation always be a problem in Africa?"
As Grepperud points out, tropical agriculture is a risky proposition due to fragile soils, overly heavy rains, and a prevalence of pests (586). This is exacerbated by the fact that farmers in the tropics often still use rather primitive agricultural techniques—little more than seeds, simple tools, and the labor of their household (592). Grepperud argues that, due to lack of any sort of insurance against crop failure, farmers in the tropics tend to make decisions that maximize short-term gain rather than focus on long-term sustainability of their land (600). If this is correct, then, presumably, the availability of formal insurance markets would cause a change in the mindset of African farmers, causing them to take a long-term view of managing their land. Breman argues that the increased use of external inputs such as fertilizers must be somehow made more economical than it is now (333). He goes on to say that, in order for this to happen, developed countries must make their markets more accessible to farmers in developing countries (333). When read one after the other, Grepperud's and Breman's works seem to suggest that better access to credit and insurance in Africa would allow the farmers to take steps to prevent the exhaustion of their pasturelands, which otherwise might happen, where it is not happening already, if Africa's population continues to grow at its current rates. Without these two factors—credit and insurance, which would essentially enable African farmers to join the "green revolution," other factors, such as increased awareness of modern farming practices, might not help by themselves.
WORKS CITED
Breman, Henk. “Desertification Control, The West African Case; Prevention is Better than Cure.” Biotropica 24.2 (1992): 328-334. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.
Grepperud, Sverre. “Poverty, Land Degradation and Climatic Uncertainty.” Oxford Economic Papers 49.4 (1997): 586-608. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.
Helldén, Ulf. “Desertification: Time for an Assessment?” Ambio 20.8 (1991): 372-383. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.
Kerr, Richard A. “The Sahara is Not Marching Southward.” Science 281.5377 (1998): 633-634. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.
Thomas, David S. G. “Sandstorm in a Teacup? Understanding Desertification.” The Geographical Journal 159.3 (1993): 318-331. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.
Zeng, Ning. “Drought in the Sahel.” Science 302.5647 (2003): 999-1000. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.
Another one of my sources concurs. Helldén, two years before Thomas, also argues that the Sahel drought can perhaps be explained by year-to-year variations in rainfall (381). He points out that, during the same period (1962-1984) in the Sudan (which can be thought of as the eastern end of the Sahel), aerial and satellite data show no long-term trend of desert expansion into grasslands—only spells of dryness followed by recovery (379). The drought in the Sahel was accompanied by a healthy population growth of 2-2.5% per year (Breman 330), which makes it tempting to conclude that the expansion of the desert was brought about by population pressure. Yet, according to Helldén, it is very possible that the Sahel drought was but one of many cycles of this type which have occurred in the past millennium (382). Summing up the conclusions of a conference of experts on the subject hosted in 1990 by the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries, Helldén says that the extraordinariness of the Sahel drought has likely been overestimated, as has been human contribution to it, while the resilience of the affected production systems—i.e., their ability to bounce back to productivity—has likely been underestimated (382). According to Helldén, the conclusion was that the phenomenon has not been studied with the thoroughness such a question deserves; as long as this is the case, he writes, "there is a risk that the desertification issue will become a political and development fiction rather than a scientific fact. Anti-desertification measures and land-rehabilitation development projects can only be successful if based on a correct diagnosis" (382). Zeng, writing in Science the following decade, points out that the Sahel drought may have been indirectly caused by multidecadal variations in global sea surface temperature (999). Kerr, writing in the same periodical, provides ample evidence (from satellite data) that the desert is not, in fact, expanding at the expense of semi-arid land (634). There is, indeed, man-made degradation in the Sahel, he says, but it is small in comparison—for instance, overgrazing leading to the replacement of grasses with shrubs, less useful for cattle (634). According to Kerr, Dean Graetz, an ecologist with Australia's Earth Observation Center, believes that the term desertification is thus inappropriate and should be replaced with land degradation (634). It seems, then, that by approximately the year 2000 there was a strong opinion, if not a consensus, in the scientific community, that Africa's deserts are not on an expansion trend, but degradation of pastureland is an issue. The question, then, should be, "will land degradation always be a problem in Africa?"
As Grepperud points out, tropical agriculture is a risky proposition due to fragile soils, overly heavy rains, and a prevalence of pests (586). This is exacerbated by the fact that farmers in the tropics often still use rather primitive agricultural techniques—little more than seeds, simple tools, and the labor of their household (592). Grepperud argues that, due to lack of any sort of insurance against crop failure, farmers in the tropics tend to make decisions that maximize short-term gain rather than focus on long-term sustainability of their land (600). If this is correct, then, presumably, the availability of formal insurance markets would cause a change in the mindset of African farmers, causing them to take a long-term view of managing their land. Breman argues that the increased use of external inputs such as fertilizers must be somehow made more economical than it is now (333). He goes on to say that, in order for this to happen, developed countries must make their markets more accessible to farmers in developing countries (333). When read one after the other, Grepperud's and Breman's works seem to suggest that better access to credit and insurance in Africa would allow the farmers to take steps to prevent the exhaustion of their pasturelands, which otherwise might happen, where it is not happening already, if Africa's population continues to grow at its current rates. Without these two factors—credit and insurance, which would essentially enable African farmers to join the "green revolution," other factors, such as increased awareness of modern farming practices, might not help by themselves.
WORKS CITED
Breman, Henk. “Desertification Control, The West African Case; Prevention is Better than Cure.” Biotropica 24.2 (1992): 328-334. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.
Grepperud, Sverre. “Poverty, Land Degradation and Climatic Uncertainty.” Oxford Economic Papers 49.4 (1997): 586-608. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.
Helldén, Ulf. “Desertification: Time for an Assessment?” Ambio 20.8 (1991): 372-383. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.
Kerr, Richard A. “The Sahara is Not Marching Southward.” Science 281.5377 (1998): 633-634. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.
Thomas, David S. G. “Sandstorm in a Teacup? Understanding Desertification.” The Geographical Journal 159.3 (1993): 318-331. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.
Zeng, Ning. “Drought in the Sahel.” Science 302.5647 (2003): 999-1000. Web. 12 Oct. 2011.