What is desertificationDesertification is the degradation of land in dry areas, not the expansion of existing deserts. Natural deserts occur due to areas of high pressure or due to "rain shadow effects", both products of the atmosphere interacting with geography; However, modern desertification is the result of land degradation due to human use. Desertification occurs mainly in arid regions because rainfall is already scarce, amplifying any other disturbances, such as overcropping. Alan Grainger states in his book that the scientific community views this issue as "the decline in biological productivity or production potential is characteristic of a long-term process of degradation, rather than a simple short-term decline in the level production that generally occurs during the period. drought” (15), but the books believe that this definition is not intense enough to account for the severity of desertification. The term itself leads people to think of desertification as the expansion, or even natural expansion, of deserts. Africa's driest lands in the Sahara are generally only suitable for nomadic livestock, as regular agriculture is not equipped to handle less than 350mm of rain. Causes and dangers: The increase and misuse of agriculture is one of the main causes of desertification. . Agricultural practices require the use and often drying of rivers. If overexploitation of water is fundamental to creating drought conditions, deforestation and soil erosion could be considered far more detrimental. To create agricultural areas, the land must be cleared of existing vegetation. As roots bind soils and create microbacterial gums, their loss has significant consequences on soil strength (1).W...... middle of paper ......the method is problematic because it causes often overgrazing of public spaces. Traditional grazing practices tend to displace wildlife and upset the original balance of plant species composition. When a dominant plant species is replaced, it results in lasting changes in “production, input, and system components,” according to research at the University of Botswana (14). Grazing, when managed property before the population boom in Africa, was sustainable and did not harm biodiversity composition. However, increasing population and demand for exports have pushed grazing to its limits and led to mixed subsistence farming operations that operate on subsidies and require pesticides and large-scale monoculture to increase yield . being the enemy of biodiversity in Africa's drylands.