Desertification in China

        In these few years, desertification has become one of the vital issues that we face regarding the global ecological environment, especially for China. On January 30, 1995, the United Nations General Assembly resolution proclaimed each June 17 as The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought. Its purpose is to highlight ways to prevent desertification and recover from drought. From this point, it’s not hard to sense the importance of this problem. In particular, China has to put much more attention on it because it has become the fastest country of the desertification and the phenomenon of sandstorm caused by the deterioration of desertification has a great impact on the near countries such as Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and even America, leading to many serious problems like air pollution and poor visibility. After a series of studies, three main reasons causing the desertification are precipitation, wind, and human activities.

Desertification, a kind of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions, is actually caused by a various factors, including climate variations and human activities. It usually starts from the edge of the natural desert and gradually affects other fertile land. Besides, the desert is not simply caused by the seasonal move of planetary wind system like ITCZ and horse latitudes anymore. Instead, it becomes a phenomenon meaning that the land is inappropriate for the growth of plants or the agricultural development.

In China, the widespread desertification is primarily originated from artificial reasons like extreme farming methods and agricultural techniques. For instance, the vulnerable prairie ecosystem of Inner Mongolia is destroyed and damaged greatly on account of overgrazing and intensive cultivation. Too many sheep and cows and too many residents and arable gathering in the same region make a big problem emerge. The carrying capacity of a biological species in an environment undoubtedly has fixed limitation. Yet, to produce adequate food for the explosive population, people begin to overuse the available resources. They totally leave the carrying capacity behind and never think about what and how much cost they are going to pay. Excessive use of existing farmland will gradually impoverish the soil and contribute to the soil erosion, turning fertile pasture into desert. Therefore, to put it simply, the unrestrained exploitation of natural resources comprising overgrazing, improper farming, and tree-cutting is the key factor of current desertification in north China.

Precipitation is second crucial factor for the dilation of desert. The lesser the rain, the fewer water sources we have. The fewer water sources we have, the harder the lives survive. Whichever being you are, plants or animals, water is necessary and essential element for survival. It can help the biochemical reaction such as photosynthesis function well, transport oxygen and nutrition, and remain the steady temperature of beings. Aside from those, for human, the significance of water also lies in irrigation, drinking, and draining sewage. Furthermore, the precipitation of the desertification region is usually between 255 mm to 450 mm. When the precipitation is close to 400 mm, the situation of the desertification will be reversed. The area of the desertification will narrow. When it’s close to 300 mm, particularly this kind of situation continually occurring, the process of the desertification will speed up. That’s why the problem of the drought in China needs to be solved as soon as possible.

Then, wind can aggravate the desertification just like someone adds fuel to the flame. Due to the loss of vegetation which is mostly driven by drought and unreasonable agricultural activities like overgrazing and deforestation for fuel, the unprotected, fragile, and dry soil surfaces can be easily blown away by wind. The land will no longer be fertile because of the shrinkage of the soil layers. As a result, it may turn out to be an unproductive hardpan. If there’s no fertile soil, there’s no opportunity for agriculture. No vegetation can survive. Neither can herbivores. If there’s no agriculture, there’s no possibility for people to live there. Not enough food like vegetables and meat can maintain human’s survival. In fact, the propulsion of the soil erosion, the declining nutrients of land, the sandstorms, and the desertification is all wind. Without any doubt, the power of wind is beyond imaginations. Therefore, its influence shouldn’t be underestimated.

From the information mentioned above, it’s obvious that the desertification is typically a combination of the natural and human-made factors. In China, the causes of north and west-north desert are similar. The global warming, and drought provide the cardinal conditions of the desertification. After that the insobriety of human activities which consists of deforestation, excessive cultivation, and overgrazing farther intensifies the phenomenon of desertification. It’s like making a stormy sea stormier. No wonder the land will ultimately turn from fertile into barren. In conclusion, the desertification of the steppe ecosystem in north China results from its inherent fragility, the climate shifts- precipitation and wind, and the dissolute human development which is done due to the explosive population.

References:

Ø   Desertification (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved May 29, 2016, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desertification

Ø   World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought (n.d.). In Wikipedia. Retrieved May 29, 2016, from

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Day_to_Combat_Desertification_and_Drought

Ø   中國土地資源與水資源問題 (n.d.). In地理教室，無國界. Retrieved May 29, 2016, from

http://lovegeo.blogspot.tw/2014/12/blog-post_62.html

Ø   衛星圖揭示 中國沙漠化俄羅斯綠油油 (n.d.). In 壹週Plus. Retrieved May 29, 2016, from

http://nextplus.nextmedia.com/news/spot/20150221/156837