Regreening Deserts: Is it possible?

We often blame climate change on let's see what al -a surge in human population, desertification, and coal burning. But the most pressing issue of it all should be: Desertification. It is just a fancy word to describe the drying of the soil. In humid lands, there is 0% chance of dry soil because nature always restores. However in case of a dry climate it is natural to expect dry soil. Around 2/3rds of the world has dry lands which have the potential to turn into deserts. Which is threatening to humans because more dry lands faster the rate of climate change and it continues as a ripple effect.

How can we reverse desertification?

If we take a square meter of land and we test the soil it'll be cooler during the night and hotter during the day. Whereas if we see the difference when the soil is fertile with organic matter we can see the drastic cooling in the environment during both times of the day compared to the initial stage when there was no organic matter. What we notice here is the change in the 'MICROCLIMATE'. So if we look at a large-scale application the more organic matter the better so it can make soils more fertile altering the 'MACROCLIMATE'.

What gets us more organic matter? Yes, obviously the dead plants but more richness in content is obviously for animal dung since nitrogen is more. In short, we need more animals to rejuvenate already dried lands.

But I was shocked by the fact that we've been taught the contrary that animal overgrazing leads to desertification. A few years back any scientist would easily agree with this fact, but now this statement is under scrutiny.

A famous biologist Allan Savory who worked in Africa was given a project of restoring dry lands to preserve them as a national park. He noticed increase in the flora of elephants in that area and assumed that as the core issue for desertification. Through several discussions and debates he along with a team of professionals, came to the conclusion to shoot down these elephants. And boy that didn't end well! Later he commented " Growing up loving elephants that was the saddest and greatest blunder of my life and I will carry it to my grave".

Well one good thing he'd learn from the experience was on how important the animals were for the soil. Next few projects he experimented with increasing the percentage of cattle grazing by 10 or 100 fold. The results of transformation of the land were beyond belief.

The cattle always tries to stay in a herd in the wild mainly because alone it is easy for the predator to attack. Herd move from place to place hence help till the soil as it moves and animal droppings fertile the soil. These factors flourish the land.

Hence regreening the once barren and dry lands is now a possibility through animal grazing. History has to be rewritten and the faster we adapt to a new lifestyle the more are the chances of our existence. Learning and making mistakes is always an essential part of the journey.