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Unlock This CourseIn Causes of Desertification you saw why land turns to desert. This lesson asks a different question: what happens to people and places when it does? The spec lists four impacts: reduced agricultural output, malnutrition, famine and migration. It also wants you to say whether each one is social, economic or environmental.
Desertification hits fragile dry regions. Many people who live there are farmers and herders. They depend directly on the soil and the plants it grows, so when the land is damaged, their lives are damaged too.
Key terms:
Desertification strips the soil of the nutrients and moisture that crops need. Fewer plants grow, so harvests shrink. Grazing land also gets worse, so there is less food for animals. Herds become thin or die. This is the first link in the chain, and the other impacts follow from it.
When harvests fall, families eat less food and a narrower range of food. Children are hit hardest. Without enough nutrients they grow slowly and fall ill more easily. Malnourished people also find it harder to work and to learn at school.
If crops fail badly, or fail year after year, a whole region can run out of food. This is famine. Many people go hungry and some die. Famine is more likely where people have no savings, no stored food and no way to buy food from elsewhere.
When the land can no longer support them, people leave. Often young men go first, to look for work in towns or in other countries. Others leave as a family. Migration means people move away to find food, water and jobs.
The spec says to know the social, economic and environmental impacts. The same event can be sorted in more than one way, so always say why you chose a label.
Malnutrition and famine harm health and cause deaths. Migration splits up families. Children may leave school to help find food or water. Crowded camps and towns can put pressure on services.
Smaller harvests mean less food to sell, so farmers lose income. Families spend savings or sell animals to buy food. Food costs more when it is scarce. Governments and charities must spend money on emergency food aid.
Soil is lost, plant cover shrinks and the land can no longer grow crops. With fewer plants, wind and rain remove more soil. Wildlife loses its habitat and food. The damage can last for many years.
Notice that the impacts feed each other. Less plant cover leaves bare soil. Bare soil blows away. Poorer soil means smaller harvests, and smaller harvests mean more hunger and more people leaving. The impacts build on one another, which is why desertification does so much harm.
In an "explain" question, the best answers link impacts in order, using words like "so", "which means" and "as a result". Try this chain:
Each step must lead to the next. Do not just list the four words. A list shows you know the terms. A chain shows you understand them.
Question: Explain one economic impact of desertification. [3 marks]
Step 1, name the impact: "Farmers lose income."
Step 2, say why: "This is because desertification reduces agricultural output, so there is less to eat and less to sell."
Step 3, extend it: "As a result, families have to sell animals to buy food, so they become poorer and may have to leave their land."
Notice the answer names the impact, gives the cause and then follows it through. That is what earns the third mark.
(a) State two impacts of desertification on people. [2 marks]
(b) Explain how desertification can lead to migration. [3 marks]
(c) Describe one environmental impact of desertification. [2 marks]
(a) Any two from: reduced agricultural output / less food grown (1); malnutrition (1); famine (1); migration (1).
(b) Desertification damages the soil, so crops fail and farm output falls (1). Families then have little food or income (1). As a result, people move away to towns or other countries to find food and work (1).
(c) Soil is lost or damaged (1), and plant cover shrinks so the land can no longer grow crops or support wildlife (1).
For a 3-mark "explain" question, aim for three linked steps: what happens to the land, what happens to people, and where that leads. Join the steps with "so" or "as a result".