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| LEFT:
Off-road vehicles significantly increase soil loss in the delicate
desert environment of the western United States. In a few seconds,
soils that took hundreds of years to develop can be destroyed
(photograph by Terrence Moore). RIGHT:Goat seeks food in the sparsely vegetated Sahel of Africa (photograph courtesy of the U S. Agency for International Development). |
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At the local level, individuals and governments can help to reclaim and protect their lands. In areas of sand dunes, covering the dunes with large boulders or petroleum will interrupt the wind regime near the face of the dunes and prevent the sand from moving. Sand fences are used throughout the Middle East and the United States, in the same way snow fences are used in the north. Placement of straw grids, each up to a square meter in area, will also decrease the surface wind velocity. Shrubs and trees planted within the grids are protected by the straw until they take root. In areas where some water is available for irrigation, shrubs planted on the lower one-third of a dune's windward side will stabilize the dune. This vegetation decreases the wind velocity near the base of the dune and prevents much of the sand from moving. Higher velocity winds at the top of the dune level it off and trees can be planted atop these flattened surfaces.
Oases and farmlands in windy regions can be protected by planting tree fences or grass belts. Sand that manages to pass through the grass belts can be caught in strips of trees planted as wind breaks 50 to 100 meters apart adjacent to the belts. Small plots of trees may also be scattered inside oases to stabilize the area. On a much larger scale, a "Green Wall," which will eventually stretch more than 5,700 kilometers in length, much longer than the famous Great Wall, is being planted in northeastern China to protect "sandy lands"--deserts believed to have been created by human activity.
More efficient use of existing water resources and control of salinization are other effective tools for improving arid lands. New ways are being sought to use surface-water resources such as rain water harvesting or irrigating with seasonal runoff from adjacent highlands. New ways also being sought to find and tap groundwater resources and to develop more effective ways of irrigating arid and semiarid lands. Research on the reclamation of deserts also is focusing on discovering proper crop rotation to protect the fragile soil, on understanding how sand-fixing plants can be adapted to local environments, and on how grazing lands and water resources can be developed effectively without being overused.
If we are to stop and
reverse the degradation of arid and semiarid lands, we must understand how
and why the rates of climate change, population growth, and food
production adversely affect these environments. The most effective
intervention can come only from the wise use of the best earth-science
information available.
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Straw grids (one of which is shown at left) and vegetation irrigated by water from the Yellow River stabilize dunes in this part of China's Tengger Desert (shown at right) and protect a nearby railroad from windblown sand |
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From wasteland to vineyard. Ground water and underground channels help this vineyard flourish on land reclaimed from desert pavement in China's Turpan Depression. |
Information provided by A . S . Walker
http://pubs.usgs.gov