Desertification

Climate-refugees.blogspot.com

Desertification means land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub- humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities, leading to reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rain fed cropland, irrigated cropland, or range, pasture, forest and woodlands. Bangladesh experiences long spells of dry weather and moderate to severe droughts are spread over a region of 5.46 million ha. During the 7-month dry season in some regions, the evapotranspiration exceeds the amount of rainfall by a factor of 2.0. Between 1960 and 1991, droughts occurred in Bangladesh 19 times. Very severe droughts hit the country in 1951, 1961, 1975, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, and 1989. Certain physical observations of desertification are:
(i) Development of continually broken cracks on the dried up topsoil.
(ii) Burnt-out yellowish foliage in the vegetation cover.
(iii) Loosening of soil structure, ending up in the topsoil transforming into a dusty layer etc.
The issue deserves immediate attention.