"Drought and Desertification" by Andrew An

Because of the climate change happening right now, the frequency of drought is increasing and more land is becoming desertified. Drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall, and desertification is the process by which fertile land becomes desert. Both of them can cause a huge negative impact on our life since it decreases the fertility of the land, which leads to decrease in agricultural productivity. 

Although the drought is a natural process that occurs due to climate patterns. However, it is becoming a serious issue these days since the abundance and the lasting period is increasing these days. This is mainly due to climate change. Since climate change increases the rate of evaporation, there is less water remaining on the ground, which becomes a potential reason for the drought. Moreover, global warming changes the climate pattern. El Niño and La Niña pattern changes, which leads to irregular and abnormal drought patterns. Deforestation and urbanization is also accelerating this phenomenon . During the process of deforestation and urbanization, the trees from the region are replaced with something else. As the vegetation coverage decreases, the amount of evapotranspiration occurring decreases. This leads to less rainfall, causing drought in that region. The cause of desertification is also very similar to this, but it is more due to factors related to human activity rather than the climatic activities. Some agricultural practices might decrease the fertility of the soil, causing desertification. For instance, intensive monoculture might cause nutrient imbalance in the soil, which might lead to desertification of the land in the long term. 

Both drought and desertification can have a huge negative impact on human life. Obviously, both of them decrease the amount of water available in that region. This decreases agricultural productivity a lot, since most of the plants are not able to grow well without water. If that region were to rely on farming, the problem might even be more severe since they are losing the source of economic income and the food source for themselves. As a result, they should import foods and water from another region. For desertification, it might cause the whole community of that region to collapse. Desertified land is not only hard for plants to grow, but also hard to build buildings. As a result, they won’t be able to build any infrastructure there, which makes that region not usable for anyone. If desertification occurs world widely, the area of land available for us will decrease. 

To prevent drought and desertification occurring, it is most important to keep the soil fertile. People should protect the soil by stopping deforestation.  Afforestation can also help to avoid these issues. Moreover, agriculture should be done more sustainably to maintain the fertility of the soil. Agroforestry, drip irrigation, or crop rotation could be a good way to keep the fertility of the soil. Other than that, planting drought-resistant crops such as cactus can also be an efficient solution to prevent drought and desertification.