Today’s Word: Desertification
May 2, 2008 at 6:47 pm (Earth Wind and..., Joanne, Today's Word)
Tags: climate change, desertification, desertization, earth, ecology, Joanne, planet
Most people know what deforestation is, but how about desertification? They’re related. Let’s take a walk across the planet and even into space!
Desertification (de·sert·i·fi·ca·tion) is:
1. the processes by which an area becomes a desert.
2. the rapid depletion of plant life and the loss of topsoil at desert boundaries and in semiarid regions, usually caused by a combination of drought and the overexploitation of grasses and other vegetation by people.
Simply put, desertification is the gradual transformation of habitable land (think food, shelter, and water) into desert (think less food and water, as as a result less shelter). Desertification is usually caused by climate change or by destructive use of the land often a result of deforestation. Did you know that there are dust storms in Korea are the result of rapid desertification in China?
Why does desertification matter?
