esertification is a degradation of fertile lands into desert by natural processes and human activities. According to the European Commission’s World Atlas of Desertification, more than 75 percent of global lands are degrading. Pakistan falls among countries with a high risk of desertification. The risk of desertification is exacerbated by its low forest cover (4.8 percent) and excessive grazing of rangelands. More than 60 percent of the country’s geographical area is classified as rangeland.

Desertification threatens food security and the livelihood of the inhabitants. Agriculture and food security depend on a complex of land/ soil, water and climate. Climate change poses challenges that are affecting the balance between soil and water. The consequences include floods, droughts, salinity, rising temperature, shifting seasons, changing cropping patterns, loss of soil fertility and soil erosion.

In deserts, there are organisms barely surviving, sometimes for years, but flourishing with the arrival of the first rain. There are dormant desert mushrooms which grow within 24 hours after a rainfall. There are desert plants (cactuses) that bloom only after rain, to shed their seeds so that the seeds germinate with the moisture that comes from the rain. Desert environment induces dormancy as a survival mechanism among the living organisms.

“Petrichor” is a pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a long spell of drought and warm weather. As if the earth awaits water.

Soil, the upper crust of land, is a product of the weathering process of millions of years, which is composed of earth particles, air and water. It is a living system with visible and invisible flora and fauna. The physics, chemistry and microbiology of soil lends physical support and nutrients to the crops that we are fed. Fortunately for us, the soils are alluvial deep layers which have been holding up to unsustainable practices so far.

Climate change trends forecast more droughts and floods that we must prepare for. El Nino and La Nina (climate patterns in the Pacific Ocean/ warm and cold currents) are a phenomenon long known, affecting weather worldwide. Those are characteristic long spells of droughts and rains. The manmade GHG emissions have disturbed the natural patterns and more unpredictable events occur. One has a vivid memory of drought caused migration and misery in Balochistan, Ethiopia and Somalia.

In the geological time span, many of today’s deserts were green spots. The presence of fossil fuels in deserts is an indication of once upon a time green biomass buried and fermented. The dried bed of Hakra River in Cholistan must be a recent example. There is clearly discernable evidence of River Bias flowing parallel to River Sutlej through Kasur, Deepalpur, Pakpattan and Lodhran prior to its merger in Sutlej near Tarantaran across Kasur border. The exhaustive cropping pattern and intensity that followed in the dead bed of River Bias can turn today’s most productive agricultural belt into a desert.

A manmade desertification example is being made in Balochistan through over-pumping of ground water. Unbridled ground water pumping across the country is a major cause of salinity.

Desertification has many causes and extents, drought being the most important one. Deforestation, overgrazing of rangelands, aridity, salinity and soil erosion are others. There are three major desert zones in Pakistan i.e., Thal and Cholistan in the Punjab and Thar in Sindh. A major dry land mass (desert) in Balochistan is sitting unattended due to lack of water. A manmade desertification example is being made in Balochistan through over-pumping of ground water. Unbridled ground water pumping across the country is a major cause of salinity. Prior to the pumping era, we had a twin menace of water logging and salinity. Water logging is still a major problem in parts of Sindh.

Being in an arid zone, our lands are characteristically saline. Continuous deforestation and lack of reforestation is a case of lack of ownership on the part of society at large. Our pastoral livestock population grazes rangelands across the country without any respect for the carrying capacity of those ranges. Loss of biodiversity and arrival of invasive/ exotic species are also contributing to the process of land degradation.

The critical resource is water. It needs harvesting, conserving and diverting to the deserts to be made green. The colony agriculture in the Punjab and Sindh are outstanding examples of deserts greened by diverting river waters. The then gravity run design of water flow and flood irrigation practices has outlived its utility. Time is ripe to redesign the water flows and use it sustainably to green more deserts and to prevent the current green fields from becoming deserts.

The application of technology for a judicious use of water (drip irrigation and use of mulches) and to prevent land degradation (regenerative practices and organic matter) has become extremely rewarding. Short duration crop varieties are planted to escape unpredictable weather conditions. The Gobi Desert and Xingjian province of China are recent examples of deserts becoming green. Israel has converted the Sinai Desert into a most highly efficient agriculture zone in the world. Greening deserts also means rehabilitation and prevention of further desertification by land cover and ecosystem stability. The vast deserts in the African continent are being viewed as a future food basket of the world. This year’s World Environment Day sponsored by Saudi Arabia is likely to set new examples of greening the deserts.

The Ministry of Climate Change has set voluntary targets towards achieving “land degradation neutrality.” The targets include conversion of bare lands into crop lands, reclaiming forest land, enforcement of land use plans, improved climate change resilience for sustainable water management and shift to green economy. The Green Pakistan Initiative too is a desert-focused programme. A land information management system has been developed. Application of high efficiency irrigation and data analytics will help conserve natural resources while preventing further degradation. Dry land farming is a combination of moisture conservation and use of adaptable crops with deep roots and ability to attract symbiotic microbes (fungi and bacteria) inhabiting such lands.

Mitigation and adaptation strategies are being tailored by: (i) redefining agro-ecological zones for economic suitability; (ii) developing climate-resilient crop varieties using new genetics, such as heat-tolerant wheat; (iii) efficient irrigation saving 40 percent water and reducing GHGs using bed-planting in wheat-rice system; (iv) precision agriculture through digital monitoring tools; (v) sustainable land management practices, like conservation agriculture and agroforestry for carbon sequestration; (vi) climate smart livestock production; (vii) aquaculture; (viii) restorative crops/ legumes and regenerative agriculture; (ix) new crops and GM technologies for drought resistance; and (x) empowering communities.

The writer is the vice chancellor of the University of Agriculture, Faisalabad