Unreasonable human activities in the spheres of economy and politics - that's what threatens the steppes and deserts

Where there is heat and dry, where there are no mountains, rivers and lakes, for many kilometers the steppes and deserts stretch. Another feature that unites them is the absence of trees and an unlimited breadth.

What distinguishes the steppe from the desert

Despite the apparent similarity, the steppes and deserts have more distinctive features. The first and most important is the geographical location. Deserts gravitate toward the equator, which explains the high air temperature in these areas and the dryness of the climate, which in turn leads to scarcity of the flora and the uniqueness of the animal world. The steppes are in more comfortable conditions, since they are located much more north, which provides more precipitation, and as a consequence, the presence of a dense (at certain times of the year) grass cover, as well as the diversity of animals inhabiting such lands. Steppes are more suitable for converting them into arable land. Thus, the main distinguishing feature is the climate. Hardly tolerable, almost waterless due to the high temperatures in the desert, it turns the surface of the earth into sand and salt marshes. Rocky and clay soils are suitable only for cacti, milkweed and other species of succulents and xerophytes that can withstand the terrible heat for a long time. In the steppes, there are many types of cereals, these soils are amenable to cultivation. In recent decades, huge territories have been cultivated.

Different types of threats

As these spaces themselves are similar and different, and the threat to the steppes and deserts has common and distinctive features. The first include climate change and human activities, which are often reckless. For the steppes, the danger is the erosion and erosion of soils, for deserts, their further drying out. So, the main threat to the steppes is soil erosion, which is the processes of destruction of the upper, most useful layers. These phenomena are caused by nature itself (the absence of mountains and natural forest barriers, capable of becoming in the way of destructive winds).

Elements beyond man's control

The plain area, which does not contribute to the natural outflow of abundant precipitation, is covered by ditches and ravines, and useful soil minerals are blurred and modified. From this can not escape. An example is the catastrophe that happened in North America. We are talking about dust storms, raging for a decade, from 1930 to 1940, in the steppe belt, called prairies there. Americans like to give wars and disasters beautiful Names, and this is a series of unique in strength storms was named "Dusty Cauldron". It entailed massive resettlement, people even left for Canada. At this stage of development, mankind can not at a worthy level confront what threatens the steppes and deserts. The only thing that the population of the Earth can do is not to aggravate the state of things, not to promote and not provoke destructive natural processes. Do not cut down forests, do not drain swamps, turning the territories they occupied before, not into fertile lands, but into sandy deserts. Protect the expanses rich in black earth, the significance of which is so great that the Hitlerites took the top, fertile layer of Ukrainian soil with rolls.

Man as the Enemy of Nature

So threatens the steppes and deserts more - natural cataclysms or unreasonable activities of homo sapiens? After all, global warming, which changes the channel of ocean currents, also did not do without human intervention. It is able to destroy even the scanty flora and fauna of deserts, contributing to the further and faster drying of the soil of the desert and its adjoining territories, turning the latter into lifeless spaces.

Of course, a person is called intelligent, and his activity is not always destructive. Nature has a certain power of self-preservation, and faith in a bright future should not be discounted. Save the nature of the Earth can be an integrated approach to solving this problem, the participation of all countries. And here, among all that threatens the steppes and deserts, politics comes to the forefront. And an egregious example is the disconnection of the Crimea's irrigation canals by the Provisional Government of Ukraine. The result of such actions can be a drought, capable of destroying large areas of arable lands, in which the Crimean steppes were turned over by the inhabitants of the peninsula. Further more. The cattle industry is under threat, as drought leads to a decrease in the number of feeds. This is an example of both unreasonable policy and unreasonable human activity at the same time. In this regard, I want to note that one can not achieve positive results in one national economic sector due to the destruction of others. An example is the development of extraction of shale gas, capable of poisoning not only black earth and water, but making life on these lands impossible.

Not everything is so hopeless

But I do not want to talk only about what threatens the steppes and deserts, as well as the entire surrounding nature. There are many methods developed to stop the erosion of the earth. There is a prospect of an agreement by all countries on stopping the release of destructive substances that contribute to the thinning of the ozone layer of the Earth, and, as a result, leading to global warming - this is in the universal sense. Protect the steppes and deserts can, by and large, within the borders of one country. And in this case, an important factor is the availability of high-quality specialists, and the opportunity to implement their reasonable and useful solutions to life. One of the methods of combating erosion of the soil lying on the surface is the plantation of forest belts, artificial irrigation, the refusal to use harmful chemicals that give a momentary result. An important role is played by the creation of protected areas, with reasonable prohibitions on certain types of human activity. If the reserve is created on the territory of the steppe, cascades of artificial reservoirs will beautify the landscape and enrich the local flora and fauna.