® In Tanzania the most affected regions include
Shinyanga, Iringa, Arusha, Singida and
Dodoma.
® Most
affected areas by desertification are the Muklat area in Arusha, Ismani in
Iringa
Kondoa Irangi in Dodoma.
CAUSES
OF DESERTIFICATION
The
causes of desertification are complex cannot only be attributed to one factor.
It is caused by
both Natural and man.
Natural: Includes 1) Failure
of rain and continous and persistence drought 2) Bush Fire 3) Pest accompanied
by drought.
Man, The main causes of it is
by human activities to rapid population growth.
Rapid Population
growth contributes to intensification and extension of desert conditions in
areas that could otherwise produce crops and rear animals. This is due to the fact that the demand of
the following increases:
- Food.
- Building space.
- Building space and materials.
- Fuel wood.
- Grazing land.
To meet these
growing needs , large part of land including forests will be cleared to:
-
Expand Agricultural in order to
increase food production.
-
Supply fuel wood and
building materials.
-
Create space for settlements.
-
To have space for grazing
livestock.
Cutting of trees is done too quickly to be replaced by
natural re growth, and the exposure of bare and exposure of bare land leads to
soil erosion, further aggravating the process of desertification.
Land fragmentation due to growing population may lead
to the land to be easily exhausted and accelerates soil erosion. This slowly
starts the process of desertification.
Causes of Human activities leading to
Desertification.
There are number of human activities leading to
desertification and these are; Deforestation, Poor farming practices,
Overgrazing , Poor Irrigation Methods, Quarrying and Mining settlements.
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