“Sustainable Grazing Requires Significantly Reduced Livestock Herd
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Overlooked? The Growing Threat of Desertification Julian Zhu For many, the story of a threatened environment modes of subsistence. As livestock herders raise and our roles as caretakers of a fragile Earth has increasingly larger herds, areas which cannot become a mainstay of modern liberal rhetoric, sustain the amount of grazing needed to raise perhaps to the point of weariness. Whereas many such large groups of animals begin the transfor- citizens have become more and more knowledge- mation (Dong 2010). Healthy root systems play able of environmental issues such as air pollution, a key role in increasing soil’s water-holding ca- climate change, and overfishing, other significant pacity and in holding soil down against high environmental problems – especially those that winds. As such, overgrazing directly threat- disproportionately affect developing countries ens the natural resilience of soil against desert – are overlooked, regardless of their urgency. spread because it disturbs these root systems. BSJ Desertification, defined broadly as the transfor- In a similar fashion, marsh draining to make mation of productive land to infertile desert (pri- space for new agriculture and grazing land on marily in arid and semi-arid regions), is one such the Zoige Plateau decreases the land’s ability to problem, and one which threatens to undermine the long-term economic stability of many devel- oping countries. “Sustainable grazing requires At first, the issue of desertification seems simple significantly reduced livestock enough. As land becomes overworked – through herd sizes on the part of herders intensive agriculture, overgrazing, or poor re- or far stricter regulation of source management – its ability to sustain plant rangeland usage on the part of life deteriorates, leading to the transformation of arable land to desert. That said, however, framing government” desertification as purely the result of human er- ror doesn’t capture the whole picture. While hu- man action does indeed contribute heavily to des- ert spread, the economic forces that govern these sustain life in the long-term, because doing so actions, as well as environmental factors beyond kills the area’s native plant life and disrupts the human control, play significant roles in deserti- balance of the soil, which in turn leads to soil fication, and only through an understanding of degradation and loss of long-tern fertility. both the economic and environmental issues of Elsewhere, similar land use issues threaten a desertification can meaningful efforts be made to different environment. Karst is a type of land halt its spread. characterized by significant subterranean drain- On a geophysical level, desertification is primarily age and low levels of surface water (Chen et al., the product of soil degradation and conflicts over 2009). Karst land covers 15% of the world’s land land usage. Aeolian desertification, or deserti- area and houses 1 billion people. Karst areas are fication caused when windborne sand settles in highly delicate and have only a small band of previously arable regions, is a serious problem in agriculturally-usable soil between the surface semi-arid regions such as the Zoige plateau China, and bedrock, making these regions extremely where desertified lands have expanded at a com- susceptible to rock desertification. As in the pounded annual rate of 4.07% from 1975 to 2005 Zoige Plateau, intensive agriculture or over- (Dong 2010). For many people in the region, agri- grazing can leave soil vulnerable to dispersal culture and livestock husbandry are the primary by wind, leaving only non-arable rock. In karst BERKELEY SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL SAVE OR DESTROY • SPRING 2012 • Volume 16 • ISSUE 2 • 1 regions, natural weathering of carbonate rock sarily industrial giants but impoverished subsis- pletion that turns arable land infertile (Lichtfouse tional policy change to be fully effective, as taxing to arable soil takes anywhere from two to eight tence farmers and herdsman. As with overfishing, et al., 2009). Introducing crop rotation and other impoverished farmers without giving them the thousand years of weathering. Thus. degrada- poor resource management is a central element, sustainable agricultural strategies require that a) means or tools to switch towards a more sustain- tion could destroy the ability of said land to be but whereas one could make the argument that farmers have access to multiple crops or seed va- able land-use model will do little to alleviate the agriculturally productive for thousands of years overfishing stems primarily from the drive for rieties to grow and b) farmers know the benefit of spread of desertification. While monetary incen- (Chen et al., 2009). excess profit, desertification – as caused by farm- crop rotation, and should be considered as facets tives encourage farmers to consider switching to Despite the destructive effects of desertification, ers and herdsmen in regions of the world such as of broader efforts against land degradation. more sustainable methods, equally important are land/resource management by both government sub-Saharan Africa and southwest China – is fun- Reforestation, or the strategic planting of trees efforts by policymakers to educate their citizens bodies and farmers in both karst areas and the damentally a problem of survival. In areas where in at-risk regions, is another anti-desertification on the actual practice of sound land management. Zoige plateau falls short. Rather than invest re- desertification is prevalent, poor people become technique, due to the soil-stabilizing and water- Areas that rely on agricultural exports as regional sources in maintaining the ecological health of holding qualities of trees. This strategy can have income should be wary of losing competitiveness the rangelands, most herders simply move to a doubly-positive effect, by improving land pro- in globalized markets, as taxing non-sustainable greener pastures, due to the sheer vastness of the ductivity in addition to preventing degradation. production raises prices of products, and mak- “...crop rotation helps to ing the switch to sustainable practice takes time, Zoige Plateau. Sustainable grazing requires sig- maintain land’s ability In the Cuvelai Basin of Namibia, residents rely on nificantly reduced livestock herd sizes on the part to produce food for many trees and wood resources for all aspects of their of herders or far stricter regulation of rangeland lives: trees provide fuel and timber for homes and “Desertification, while also usage on the part of government, neither of which years and avoid the nutrient furniture, as well as base materials for crafts sold are economically favorable in the short term. depletion that turns arable for income (Seely & Klintenberg, 2011). When an issue of poor resource BSJ Similar land use trends appear around the world, land infertile” faced with land degradation due to overpopula- management, is a problem and often in developing regions. Today, desertifi- tion and encroaching commercial interests with- whose main effectors are not BSJ cation plagues the Algerian High Plateaus, north- out a vested interest in long-term forest health, necessarily industrial giants ern Africa’s most widespread rangeland and key trapped within a vicious cycle: farmers often need Namibian policymakers turned to silviculture – but impoverished subsistence grazing region. Once a highly forested region, to work their land as hard as possible simply to or tree planting – to maintain the forests central to farmers and herdsman.” demands for grazing land prompted heavy de- provide for their families, but such intensive use the well-being of the Cuvelai Basin residents. As forestation of the region in the name of economic destroys land fertility and destroys the ability of yet, however, the conservation efforts remain growth. Both deforestation and the subsequent of farmers to maintain themselves financially in ineffective. Such policies do not go far enough overgrazing severely damaged the soil quality the long term (Requier-Desjardens, Adhikari, & in curbing industrial interests or addressing the effort, and an investment of resources that many of the region, leading to desertification of many Sperlich, 2010). As such, any efforts to combat de- spread of urban areas, highlighting the fact that farmers and policymakers may not be totally fa- parts of the once-fertile plateau through topsoil sertification need to address not only the physical desertification is a problem that demands a mul- miliar with. loss and sand accumulation (Hirche et al., 2011). processes that produce desertification, but also tifaceted response. Because land overuse is often the product of poor As such, the problem of desertification in both the the economic factors that propagate increased To not only halt but reverse desertification, poli- farmers overworking land in order to produce Zoige Plateau and other regions is produced by land degradation. cymakers need to pursue aggressive and multi- enough goods to make a living, providing alter- both environmental and economic forces: though Efforts made to fight desertification vary greatly front efforts, but strategies such as strict resource nate income routes for poor farming communities overgrazing might be the direct cause of degrada- depending on the geographical features of the management or reforestation can be expensive can lift part of the financial load off overburdened tion, economic systems favor maximizing short- region. For instance, in sandy desert areas