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| Figure 1. Desertification in Oman (source) |
Desertification is land which is turning into desert and approximately two thirds of the land on Earth is desertifying (figure 1). It has destroyed many societies in the past, and is causing great problems to societies around the world today. It occur when soil organic matter is stripped away to reveal bare, hard ground which leads to increased runoff and evaporation. Furthermore, the decomposition of the soil organic matter releases carbon to the atmosphere which is changing the microclimate in the short-term and the macroclimate in the long-term.
Societies around the world have been taught over recent decades that desertification is caused by overgrazing by livestock and as a result, large groups of livestock has been discouraged. In the 1950's Allan Savory, Zimbabwe's land degradation expert, suggested that in order to reduce and reverse the widespread problem of desertification in their national parks, the number of elephants in the park must be reduced. This led to a massacre of 40,000 elephant in order to bring their levels down to a level the land could sustain. Today, Savory admits that 'it was a terrible decision' as the problem of desertification over the following years got worse, not better. In Savory's words - ‘We were once as certain that the world was flat! We were wrong then and we are wrong again!’.
In a recent Ted Talk video, Savory presents evidence challenging the idea that livestock cause desertification. Due to evolutionary pressures from predators, grazing animals have developed to form large packs of herds. These herds are continually on the move, looking for new vegetated lands, and it is this movement that prevents overgrazing. Savory proposes, that there is only one option left to recent desertification - "to use livestock, bunched and moving, as a proxy for former herds and mimic nature. There is no alternative left for mankind.".
Societies are now encouraged to use holistic management and planned grazing process to reduce desertification. Today, there are people who are teaching farmers in societies across the world how to plan and manage their herds. They are being encouraged to keep their animals in pens overnight to prepare crop fields and significant increase in crop yield has been seen. To compare, we see lands in Zimbabwe previously subject to desertification (figure 3) which have seen dramatic change since the introduction of the holistic management and planned grazing process and increasing the number of herb grazing animals by 400% (figure 3). Furthermore, increasing the vegetation will allow carbon from the atmosphere to be stored in grassland soils and vegetation and in the long-term this could help prevent global warming.
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| Figure 3. Lands in Zimbabwe in before and after planned holistic management was used. |
Today, we see societies turning to using this low-cost method of planned holistic management since it is the last hope that they have of saving their families and saving their cultures. Desertification is causing hunger, poverty, social unrest and wars and is playing a significant part in global climate change. Planned holistic management and moving herds of livestocks mimicking nature is suggested by Alan Savory as a critical technique to reverse desertification.