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Spreading desert


Spreading desert
Photo Information
Copyright: Alberto Piubello (albertopiubello) Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 352 W: 46 N: 866] (2547)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-11-11
Categories: Nature
Exposure: f/4.8
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2007-11-14 9:54
Viewed: 1398
Points: 32
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Ten kilometers far from Niamey I visited Karey Gorou dune, a typical exemple of spreading desert (the capital of Niger is 500 km to the south of Sahara).
Everywhere in the world, countries are faced with uncontrollable problems that will greatly effect their futures. In the continent of Africa, many countries are faced with the problem of spreading deserts, called desertification.
The continent of Africa contains one-fifth of the world's surface and has some of the world's largest physical features, including deserts. The Sahara, which is located in the northern part of Africa, is the largest desert in the world. It also happens to be one of many deserts that are getting larger every year because of desertification.
Desertification can be defined as increasing desert-like conditions in arid and semi-arid lands. This problem (which is also known as desertization, sandification, and desiccation) has so many causes that it is said to be irreversible.
Climate, humans, and livestock are the main causes of the spreading deserts in Africa. Climate, however, is the main reason that this problem is so hard to control. Prolonged drought can leave land dried out and infertile which makes it just about impossible for any type of vegetation to survive. Because humans play no part in this, it is obviously the hardest for us to control.
The climate's roll in desertification also leads to the problem of livestock. When droughts leave the land dry with no trees or grasses, those who raise animals must find other places for their livestock to graze. And now that it's harder for grasses to grow back, it is easier for overgrazing to occur. Thus, the combination of Africa's low rainfall and involvement with grazing helps lead land dry and destroyed by overcultivation.
Humans are a cause of desertification for many reasons. Development and overpopulation are two. Cities need to grow to support their population, and to do so, trees will be cut down and replaced with construction sites. A growing population also requires a growing economy, therefor rangelands will be replaced with croplands, and the destruction of fertile land will continue. Meanwhile, as the population continues to grow, there will be more and more need for reasons to overcultivate and overgraze in order to feed mouths.
Yet the deserts continue to spread in all areas of the world (The Sahara is said to move at the rate of 1km/yr, and has for the past 300 years). And as the encroaching sands destroy forests and take farmlands and rangelands down with them, the economy is equally damaged. Take, for example, food productivity. This can be retarded by desertification, when farms are taken over by desert land. Much of these farms grow food needed to feed Africa's rapidly growing population, and some of these foods are to be used as an export. But what can be done to help?
Solutions for desertification have been thought of, but a lot of the ideas have turned out to be outrageous and even a little unrealistic. As for the Sahara, one man came up with the idea to construct a forest belt that is 15 miles wide and 1370 miles long at the edge of the desert in hopes that it will not continue any farther south. This plan obviously was not carried out! More realistic measures, however, are being taken. The best that can be done by humans alone is to spread global awareness of the problem. If people can learn from the mistakes of others, maybe desertification can be prevented from occurring anywhere else in the world. Governments (mainly ones of countries that have fallen victim to the spreading deserts), along with UN-organizations, and many Sub-regional organizations, have taken part in this worldwide alert through the media. This will do little to solve the problem, however it is the best solution so far. If the problem is to be completely solved, it cannot be done so by man (or at least not in this day and age). Therefor, nature must do its part to supply these regions with a normal amount of rainfall in order for them to return back to normal. Until then, those faced with the problem are advised to try to regulate their amounts of grazing, population, development, etc. and do their best to keep land in good condition.
Desertification is going to be a future challenge for Africa and many, many other countries in the world. 110 countries (that include over 1000 people located exactly in these regions), in fact, are dealing with spreading deserts to this very day. Hopefully, with more help and ideas from areas like the government and the UN, a solution will be found and deserification will end.
Jeppo, maximage, Clementi, kwekwekan, lestans, clio, paololg, Silvio1953, COSTANTINO, archimatica, Merline, brevbrev14, xuaxo, bracasha75, atus has marked this note useful
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To Merline: très bon commentaire.albertopiubello 1 11-25 23:28
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Critiques [Translate]

Bonjour Alberto,
Comment vas-tu?
Une image assez terrible qui se passe de trop de commentaires!
Vu d'ici celà peut parraître très joli mais les gens qui y vivent c'est une autre histoire!
Ta note est en tous cas très complète et très significative de ce vaste problème.
Bonne soirée et amitiés de mon village sous la neige.
max

great demonstration of the problem of desertification; a simple, yet very powerful photo

Ciao Alberto!
che problema enorme anche questo della desertificazione che avanza! E' un problema nelle nostre zone nei posti dove il riordino fondiario ha eliminato siepi e alberi... ma fa ridere in confronto al Sahara che avanza.
Soluzioni sono difficilissime, ma credo che una cosa importante è senza dubbio la consapevolezza, la cultura degli abitanti, che dovrebbero accedere a scuole, e farsi primi promotori e protagonisti. Però facile a dire o a scrivere.

La tua foto è bellissima: ci mostri proprio il fenomeno del passaggio al deserto.

Grazie per la tua ricca nota! Fai tanto bene a scrivere cose serie in questo sito!

Ciao!!

Livia

Ciao Alberto ,
con il freddo che sta facendo qui da noi pensare che possa fare cosi' caldo e' assurdo , come e' assurdo vedere il deserto che avanza mette un po' di ansia e ci costringe a pensare che forse questa civilta' ha un po' di colpe .
bravo ottimo lavoro
Giorgio

Ciao ALberto,
Bella e preoccupante questa immagine, ottimi i colori, rende perfettamente il fenomeno della desertificazione.
In tutte le foto che posti sollevi delle problematiche e dei temi importanti !Bravo
Ciao
Andrea

PS:spero che la tua attività prosegua bene.

  • Great 
  • clio Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1572 W: 163 N: 2738] (13064)
  • [2007-11-15 10:34]

Bonsoir Alberto,
Belle photo qui illustre malheureusement bien ta note. Le problème de la désertification se retrouve ou va se retrouver prochainement dans beaucoup de pays. Le problème de l'approvisionnement en eau risque aussi d'être encore plus problématique et violent que celui en énergie.
le monde tourne mal... mais une fois de plus, merci de poser les questions ici.
A bientôt
Diane

Ciao Alberto,
quando guardo un mappamondo mi viene l'angoscia nel vedere quanto giallo c'è in confronto al verde. L'unica cosa che mi auguro è che l'uomo non acceleri, con la sua scelleratezza, questo processo, purtroppo il più delle volte irreversibile. La foto è bella e rende l'idea.
Ciao e buon lavoro.
Paolo.

Ciao Alberto, bella con splendidi colori e magnifica luce, però preoccupante, tra un po' ce lo ritroviamo sotto casa eil deserto, grazie per aver introdotto un altro tema interessante, buon week end, ciao Silvio

  • Great 
  • toto Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2493 W: 112 N: 2903] (15380)
  • [2007-11-19 2:19]

Belle photo de ce désert avec ses différentes sortes d' endroits, nu ou légèrement vetu de ces buissons qui poussent partout. Belle profondeur de champ avec cette étendue d' eau au loin, du moins je crois, serais ce un mirage, va savoire dans cet endroit.
Amitiés
Je reviens

  • Great 
  • manada Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 722 W: 63 N: 1185] (5847)
  • [2007-11-20 21:39]

Ciao Alberto come stai?
Descrivi benissimo ciò che accade a supporto c'è l'immagine che conferma. Ti mando un forte abbraccio
Freddy

Ciao Alberto,
Bella foto,interesante nota,pero bruti sentimenti ci vengono nel nostro pensiero dal grante problema di desertificacione ,
Complimenti,
Cari saluti,
Costantino

Letta la tua nota, dovremmo riflettere su quanto hai scritto e vedere la foto forse con un occhio meno wowpov.
Apprezzo il messaggio, scritto da chi vive questa realtà.
Un saluto
Renzo

Alberto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
por fin te encuentro!!!
Genial la foto y el comentario!!! te extrañamos... a ver cuando venís por Barna....

Te mando un gran abrazo!!!!!!!

Germán

Sometimes Alberto, I just feel...no hope. To me it seems the world has gone crazy and cannot be made go back, only a bit, maybe. Just one thing, do Africans, for example, have to have big cattle ? so much of it? before the white man came, they were relying a lot on insects as a protein income as one example. Why do we think that the whole world has to live like in Europe(or USA)? In most continents, food is far more frugal and people live better (Japan e.g. before fast food arrived), Creta. We cannot control the rain, but so much could be done by changing our way of looking at things. I stop now, because this is not the place to start a long discussion. Thank you for this as such, beautiful picture, I've been dreaming of visiting the desert too:-), but specially thank you for showing what's behind it also.

Best regards
Michèle

ciao caro Alberto, bello questo paesaggio...un deserto infinito dai toni gialli...
per me che amo le sabbie dal mondo, questa è ancor più una vista bellissima...e molto interessante la tua nota...
spero tu stia bene..:))
ciao!
Valeria

  •      
  • xuaxo Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2668 W: 183 N: 2506] (4150)
  • [2007-12-12 13:31]

Ciao Alberto!
Este é um problema muito grave. Mesmo em Portugal há este risco, principalmente em zonas do sul.
Boa nota e boa foto para ilustrar este problema.
It is said that in Cape Verde (you know, "verde" means "green) the desert conditions didn't exist before colonization of the islands. The livestock (goats) were very important in the desertification of Cape Verde.
Cumprimentos,
F.

Hello Alberto
One very useful post and great folowing note
Thanks for share and visiting me
Cheers,Braca

  • Great 
  • atus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2289 W: 209 N: 4494] (15053)
  • [2008-02-27 10:51]

Ciao Alberto,
Beh, agli occhi del turista il deserto con dune, magari é uno spettacolo, peró la preoccupazione per la desertificazione globale é tanta. Proprio in questi giorni qui a Capodistria osservavo il terreno pieno di crepe, tipiche della mancanza d'acqua e mi sono chiesto dove si andrá a finire a breve, se giá in inverno la situazione é questa. Complimenti per la nota!
Buona serata.
Attila

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