Importance of Drought Information in Monitoring and Assessing Land Degradation
[2023-02-02 18:50:27]
Drought is a common feature of climate, one of the most common and serious natural disasters. In most parts of the world, the economic loss caused by drought is greater than the economic loss caused by other events such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. As the population of the world increases, pressure on water resources increases, vulnerability to drought is increasing. The long-term drought cycle is a major factor in the process of land degradation and affects a wide range of geographical areas. This natural disaster may occur in any climate area, but it occurs more frequently in arid and semi-arid areas. According to long-term rainfall measurements, Israel's Mediterranean climate is drying for three consecutive years every 50 years. The drought in northern Israel from 1998 to 2001 was the most extreme in the past 130 years. It affected the flow of the Jordan River, raising the water level of Kinneret to its lowest level ever. Changes in land use, pumping up and diversion will exacerbate the adverse effects of drought, causing land degradation such as depletion of wetlands and saltwatering of freshwater aquifers. Urban treatment of wastewater to increase irrigation use, the content of its salinity has increased significantly, is another cause of soil degradation, has a great economic impact on the irrigated agriculture program. The wetlands and aquatic environment around Kinneret Lake and its country have been almost dry for 6 years, affecting fish breeding and inherent aquatic species. Various solutions such as drip irrigation, reuse of wastewater, reduction of distribution, price rise of water supply, desalination plant, etc. are applied. However, subsequent governments have failed to introduce drought emergency response plans and sustainable management of water resources, which has destroyed agriculture and nature conservation. The danger of imminent drought brings a great crisis to the country's water resources and affects all sectors of society.
It is a misunderstanding that drought causes desertification. Drought in arid and semi-arid areas is common. Once rain returns, well-managed land can recover from drought. However, continuing abusing the land during the drought may increase land degradation. By 1973, by the drought occurred in the Sahel region of West Africa in 1968 and the practical use of land there, 100,000 people and over 12 million cows died, social organizations were destroyed from the village to the national level It was.
The drought in the Sahel which began in 1968 killed 100,000 to 250,000 people, killed millions of people in five countries and collapsed the agricultural base (according to UNEP's Daniel Stiles).
Degradation of land can be affected by various weather conditions such as extreme weather conditions, especially drought, pollution, degradation of soil quality and land use, adversely affecting the production and supply of food production, livelihoods and other ecosystem products and services It is caused by various factors. . By the increase and integration of pressure by extreme weather phenomena such as agricultural land and livestock production (excessive cultivation, overgrazing, forest conversion), urbanization, deforestation, and drought and coastal marginal landmines, land deterioration It accelerated. Desertification is a form of land degradation, fertile land becomes a desert.
Land degradation conditions such as drought, desertification, deforestation caused population migration in various arid regions in the world. The greatest example of compulsory resettlement as land degradation is seen in growing areas around Sahara. Because of desertification, people in sub-Saharan Africa are forced to move once sustainable land is covered in the desert (Hammer, 2004, p. 232). Similar land degradation occurs in other parts of the world. For example, soil erosion and long-term drought are spreading in Mexico and Central America, making agricultural practices difficult and promot