3-11: Desertification

Pre-Class Preparation

Objectives

• To understand the role of human and natural factors in the desertification process.
• To review the global occurrences of desertification and future implications.

Procedure

1. Read the learning unit.

   Class images

2. Take the learning unit quiz. Quizzes are available from your portfolio. You may access your portfolio via the list of students participating in this year's course, as represented by the icon below.
   
   
3. Additional Required Reading. Although you are not ultimately responsible for content listed in this section, we encourage you to fully explore the links in order to provide a better scope on the upcoming class discussion.

   Desertification and climate change. (From UNEP.)

Class Discussion

• Problem to ponder...

• Class Discussion Summary:

Post-Class Activities

• Participate in the electronic dialog. Use this forum for:
  • continuing class discussion;
  • posing new questions to students or the instructor;
  • responding to issues/questions raised by students in class/electronic dialog.

  Visitor Access (Visitors are welcome to participate in the dialog. Just click on the icon below)	Student Access (Students must post all dialog from their portfolio. Click on the icon below to access the student list.)

• Recommended Reading Materials

  	Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought
  	Crosson, Pierre, 1995: Soil Erosion Estimates and Costs. Science 269, 461-463.
  	Daily, Gretchen C., 1995: Restoring Value to the World's Degraded Lands. Science 269, 350-354.
  	El-Baz, F., 1990: Do People Make Deserts? New Scientist October 13, 41-44.
  	Glantz, Michael H., 1994: Drought Follows the Plow. Cambridge University Press 197 pp.
  	Naeth, M. Anne, and David S. Chanasyk, 1996: Runoff and Sediment Yield Under Grazing in Foothills Fescue Grasslands of Alberta. Water Resources Bulletin 32, 89-95.
  	Pimentel, et al., 1995: Environmental and Economic Costs of Soil Erosion and Conservation Benefits. Science 267, 1111-1237.

• References

  	Glantz, Micheal H., 1994: Drought Follows the Plow. Cambridge University Press, 197 pages.
  	Nicholson, S. E., et al., 1998: Desertification, Drought, and Surface Vegetation: An Example from the West African Sahel. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 79, 815-829.