Desertification causes

Hydrological Studies to predict Water Supply and Flood Protection Needs, and to Avoid exacerbating water problems with Poorly Conceived Solutions (e.g. desertification in one area caused by channeling water to irrigate another—such as in Iran or flooding worsened downstream in urban areas by dykes protecting farmland—like Poland s 1997 flood). 

Desertification The process by which fertile land is turned into a desert. This is usually caused by removal of vegetation and/or climate change. 

Desertification is caused by overcultivation, overgrazing, and deforestation. This may result in soil exhaustion and erosion. This will in turn decrease the soil productivity, reduce food production, deprive the land of its vegetative cover, and negatively impact areas not directly affected by its symptoms, by causing floods, soil salinisation, deterioration of water quality, and silting of rivers, streams, and reservoirs (http //www.fao.org). 

The loss of productivity of arable land due to desertification has induced intensive research into understanding plant responses to drought and salt stress. Osmotic stress causes changes in cell volume that can impact multiple levels of cellular organization and function including plasma membrane... 

Miseik R, Omar S (2003) Military operations as a major cause of soil degradation and sand encroachment in arid regions (the case of Kuwait). Conference on Desertification, Jadbour, November 2003... 

In areas where land has been converted to desert from grassland or cropland, it is important to stop doing the things that cause desertification. This means, particularly, not cultivating land that should not be cultivated and not overgrazing land with ruminant animals. 

The potential changes in precipitation efficiency add to the perturbation of the hydrological cycle in the tropics caused by deforestation and desertification. Tropical forests are extremely efficient in returning precipitation back to the atmosphere in the form of water vapor. There it can form clouds and rain again, and the cycle can repeat itself many times [67]. A region such as the Amazon Basin can... 

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