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Typical deserts are indicated by the hyper-arid category (light yellow). [1] Desertification is a type of gradual land degradation of fertile land into arid desert due to a combination of natural processes and human activities. The immediate cause of desertification is the loss of most vegetation.
For instance, it might be difficult to tell if desertification or desert expansion is the result of climate change or human activity. [19] Desertification in Africa is exacerbated by human factors such as deforestation, overgrazing, and unsustainable farming methods such as monoculture and excessive use of chemical fertilizers.
As well, the expected positive effects of the reforestation could not be observed. On the contrary, a high fire risk emerged since pine trees are easily flammable, and the grazing pressure was moved towards more sensitive areas in the desert belt. The evergreen trees also reduced groundwater recharge. [2]
Humans have long made use of deserts as places to live, [104] and more recently have started to exploit them for minerals [105] and energy capture. [106] Deserts play a significant role in human culture with an extensive literature. [107] Deserts can only support a limited population of both humans and animals. [108]
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But included in that 10–20% of land is the approximately 9 million square kilometers of seasonally dry-lands that humans have converted to deserts through the process of desertification. [7] The tallgrass prairies of North America, on the other hand, have less than 3% of natural habitat remaining that has not been converted to farmland.
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Many people think of deserts as consisting of extensive areas of billowing sand dunes because that is the way they are often depicted on TV and in films, [1] but deserts do not always look like this. [2] Across the world, around 20% of desert is sand, varying from only 2% in North America to 30% in Australia and over 45% in Central Asia. [3]