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Desertification in Pakistan: Causes, impacts and management

Shakeel A. Anjum 1, Long-chang Wang 1*, Lan-lan Xue 1, Muhammad F. Saleem 2, Guo-xin Wang 1

and Cong-ming Zou 1

1
College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, China. 2 Department of Agronomy,
University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan. *e-mail: wanglc2003@163.com

Received 10 January 2010, accepted 13 April 2010.

Abstract
The natural resource base of land, water and vegetation in arid and semi arid areas is highly fragile and extremely vulnerable to degradation. Increasing
population along with the demand for more food, fodder and fuelwood has given rise to a chain of interrelated economic, social and environmental
issues associated with the land degradation. Desertification is essentially a result of soil degradation. A variety of natural and human factors are
contributing to desertification, including drought, overgrazing, over exploitation of land and water resources, over cultivation of marginal lands,
deforestation, soil erosion, water logging and salinity and the use of inappropriate agricultural technologies. The consequences of this are: abandoned
croplands, affected by waterlogging and salinity; abandoned villages, traditional irrigation systems and croplands desertified by deteriorated groundwater
aquifers or lowering of the water table; siltation of rivers, irrigation systems and reservoirs; landslides in hilly areas. The desertification leads to
agricultural productivity losses and enhance poverty. It also causes significant reductions in carbon storage in soils, contributing to global warming,
and loss of biodiversity. Various approaches are being applied to combat the menace of desertification. Introduction of rapid growing exotic species
of trees and grasses for stabilization of shifting sand dunes; creation of microclimates through shelterbelt plantation have proved highly successful
towards the control of desertification. Sustainable land management (SLM), soil and water conservation, afforestation and rehabilitation of degraded
land, repetitive high resolution satellite images, delineation and mapping of affected areas, remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS)
are likely to be suitable strategies for combating desertification in Pakistan. The efforts already underway to combat desertification need to be
strengthened and integrated through a nationally supported, coordinated and monitored system.

Key words: Agriculture, desertification, land degradation, deforestation, salinity, soil erosion.

Introduction
Population growth and economic development continue to place of people the planet supports had risen to 6.7 billion by 2008, up
increasing pressure on land use, particularly in developing areas from 2.5 billion in 1950 10, and it is the developing countries in
of the world. Desertication, defined as “land degradation in arid, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Dryland environments cover 41%
semiarid, and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, of the worlds total land area, are inhabited by more than two
including climatic variations and human activities”, is a serious billion people and contain 43% of the worlds cultivated land
global environmental and ecological issue 1-4. Desertication was area 11. These areas suffer from some of the lowest levels of human
first conceptualized as an issue in need of global political attention well-being, and also are facing some of the highest incidences of
following the severe drought and associated famine in the Sudano- poverty 12.
Sahel region of Africa between 1968 and 1974 5. Land degradation The economy of Pakistan is almost entirely dependent on
is defined as reduction of its potentiality as a result of one or more agriculture. Out of the total of 79.6 million ha, about 68 million ha
processes arising from human activities and habitation patterns. of land area lies in the fragile region receiving less than 300 mm
The land degradation problem affects all three elements of the rainfall annually. About 90% land area of Pakistan falls into arid
critical triangle of development goals, namely, agricultural growth, and semi-arid, and is vulnerable to desertification. High
poverty reduction, and sustainable resource management 6. The evapotranspiration and low rainfall are salient features of arid and
international community has long recognized desertification as semi-arid areas. Human population pressure has been shown to
major economic, social and environmental threat to many countries be the leading cause of desertication 13-15. The annual increase in
of the world. More than 250 million people are directly affected by population at 2.1% led to over exploitation of land and water
desertication worldwide. In addition, about one billion people in resources. The per capita cultivated land is 0.16 ha 16. Sustainability
110 countries are at risk of being affected by desertication 7. of agricultural and environmental systems is the major concerns
Approximately 33% of the worlds land surface is under agricultural in the country. There is an urgent need to accelerate efforts for
use, either as cropland (12%) or pasture (21%) 8, but the worlds increasing agricultural production in view of the existing 148.2
population is continuing to grow at alarming rate, leading to a million people and also growing population which is expected to
steep reduction in per capita arable land area 9. Indeed, the number become 345.5 million in the next 50 years 17.

Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.8 (2), April 2010 1203
 The process of desertification in Pakistan falls into three Causes and Linkages of Desertification
categories: (1) the expansion of the Great desert of Thar and Efforts have been underway to better quantify the spatial temporal
Cholistan adjacent to the Indian desert of Rajasthan; (2) the relationship between desertication and its causes 20. While
expansion of desertification due to deforestation; (3) land lost of different modeling approaches have been adopted in the study of
land because of waterlogging and salinity, overgrazing, land use and land cover change, they have only recently been
urbanization and unsustainable management practices. Only 3.77% applied in desertication studies 21. Mcclure 22 pointed out that
of Pakistans land is covered by forests and 26.77% of the country desertication was due to a variety of factors including improper
is classified as rangeland (Table 1). Drylands in Pakistan are agricultural practices, livestock overgrazing, mining, fire
characterized by high velocity wind, huge shifting and rolling management schemes, recreation practices, deforestation,
sand dunes; high diurnal variation of temperature; scarce rainfall; urbanization, drought and floods and soil erosion.
intense solar radiation and high evapotranspiration. Thar Desert
receives between 100 to 500 mm of rainfall annually, 90% of which Drought: Drought can be described as “A prolonged period of
is received from July to September. The sandy soils of the desert time during which an area receives below average rainfall”. Drought
have a high infiltration rate of water, low fertility, low humus content is more apparent when it occurs in the potentially high and medium
due to rapid oxidation and high salinity. All conditions are very rainfall areas 23. Drought is a common occurrence in Pakistan and
hostile for the existence of life, yet, large human and livestock agriculture is the primary economic sector affected. Pakistan had
populations inhabit the area. witnessed crippling drought during 2000-02 which badly affected
At the global scale, key problems threatening natural resources its agriculture sector. Agriculture sector had grown at an average
and the sustainability of life support systems are: soil degradation, rate of 4.54 percent per annum during the decade of the 1990s and
the availability of water and the loss of biodiversity 18. Land growth was negative 2.64 and 0.07 percent during 2000-01 and
desertification now affects the lives of hundreds of millions of people 2001-02 respectively, while agriculture grew by 4.15 percent in
and is hampering the development of countries. Combating land 2002-03 when drought was over. The severe drought caused severe
degradation is a high priority in Pakistan. Most of the degradation water shortages for humans, livestock and agriculture. Drought
is taking place on agricultural and pasture lands, which are major impacted some 3 million people and 7.2 million livestock heads.
sources of food, fodder, income and employment for rural Hundreds of lives were lost and thousands of livestock and wild
communities. Desertification contributes to other environmental ungulates perished. Importantly, the drought also severely
crises, such as the loss of biodiversity and global warming. Over affected local livelihoods and forced local people to migrate toward
exploitation gives rise to degradation of vegetation, soil and water. cities in search of work and food. This disrupted traditional land
These three elements serve as the natural foundation for human use patterns, resulted in the permanent loss of traditional
existence. Land degradation is both a cause and a consequence of management practices and exacerbated the trends toward land
rural poverty. Therefore, desertification leads to poverty, and poverty degradation and desertification.
leads to further desertification. There have been many attempts to
assess the extent, nature, and rate of desertication on global, regional, Soil erosion: Soil erosion implies loss or removal of surface soil
and local levels 19. Combating desertification can be done material through the action of moving water, wind or ice. Soil wind
successfully using modern techniques if financial resources are erosion is an important process that affects both the surface
available and political will to act is there. It is necessary to address features and the biological potential of soils 24. Soil erosion is
political, social and economic constrains, globally and in the regions, taking place at an alarming rate and is mainly due to deforestation
to path the way for the sustainable management of drylands of in the northern areas of Pakistan. The land mass affected by wind
Pakistan. This will include providing alternative livelihood and water erosion has been presented in Tables 2 and 3. Research
opportunities, tenure security, appropriate and improved grazing has confirmed that soil erodibility is affected by inherent properties
and irrigation practices and even more important that support for of the soil 25, wind speed levels 26 and ground surface cover 27.
the traditional sustainable management for dryland. Every year approximately one billion tones of soils are being lost,
sitting up precious dams and dumped
Table 1. Rangeland and Forest Area of Pakistan. into the Arabian sea. The highest
Province Land Area (mha) Rangeland Area Forest Area recorded rate of erosion is estimated
Area (mha) % of total Area (mha) % of total to be 150-165 tons/hectare/year. Wind
NWFP 10.17 4.73 46.51 1.49 14.65 erosion is a common phenomenon in
Punjab 20.63 5.19 25.16 0.44 2.13
Sindh 14.09 2.66 18.88 0.28 1.99
the deserts of Thal, Cholistan and
Blochistan 34.72 8.95 25.78 0.45 1.30 Tharparker and along the Makran
Northern Areas 7.04 1.15 16.34 0.32 4.55 coast. Water erosion is the widespread
AJK 1.33 0.87 65.40 0.34 25.56 hazard in the region, caused mainly
Pakistan 87.98 23.55 26.77 3.32 3.77 by excessive exposure of bare soil
Source: National Forests and Range Resources Assessment Survey (2003-04).
due to poorly managed logging
operations, indiscriminate land
Table 2. Area affected by wind erosion (000 ha).
clearance, cutting of vegetation for
Degree of erosion Punjab Sindh NWFP/FATA Balochistan Pakistan
Slight 2251.4 295.0 13.1 36.3 2595.5 fuel and inadequate management of
Moderate 279.1 70.2 3.8 143.6 469.7 runoff. Water erosion shortens the life
Severe to very severe 1274.2 168.8 19.6 100.9 3081.3 span of major reservoirs, irrigation
Total 3804.5 2052.1 36.5 280.5 6173.5 system and reduces their efficiency.
Source: Land Degradation in Pakistan, Shah and Arshad (2006).

1204 Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.8 (2), April 2010
Table 3. Area affected by water erosion (000 ha).
Degree of erosion Punjab Sindh NWFP/FATA Balochistan Northern Areas Pakistan
Slight (sheet & rill 61.2 - 156.3 - 110.5 328.0
erosion)
Moderate (sheet & rill 896.8 - 853.8 1858.6 25.8 3635.0
erosion)
Severe (rill, gull and/or 588.1 58.9 176.1 2724.4 504.2 5640.7
stream bank)
Very severe (gully, pipe 357.9 - 1517.0 - 1571.6 3446.5
& pinnacle erosion)
Total 1904.0 58.9 4292.2 4583.0 2212.1 13050.2
Source: Land Degradation in Pakistan, Shah and Arshad (2006).

Water erosion is prominent on steep slopes such as the Potohar trampling 31. In turn, these processes increase soil crusting, reduce
track and surrounding areas, an area extensively used for soil inltration, enhance surface runoff, and diminish soil water
cultivation. About 50% of the rainwater is lost as runoff. The availability for plants 32. Overgrazing has brought down the
Indus River carried the fifth largest load of sediment (4.49t/h) in productivity of rangelands to as little as 15-40% of their potential.
the world in 1990. If half of this water could be saved, it would More than 60% of natural grazing areas of the country have
amount 6 MAF of water, which is equal to 2/3 of the usable capacity production levels lower than one third of their biological potential.
of Tarbela Dam, enough to irrigate 4 million acres of land. More than one-third of the country area has been classified as
under risk of desertification. To halt desertification the number of
Deforestation: Deforestation is an important determinant of land animals must be restricted, allowing plants to regrow. Fencing is
degradation, as it leads to reduced vegetation cover. Deforestation valuable tool of preventing the domestic and wild animals from
also reduces water-catchment potential and promotes landslides moving around the field.
and siltation of water bodies 28. Deforestation is the root cause of
land degradation. The forest area in Pakistan is 3.77% (Table 1), Unsustainable management practices: The unsustainable
which is too low to meet the environmental as well as socio- activities including inadequate soil conservation, cultivation of
economic needs of the country. Due to deforestation, forest cover steep slopes, cultivation without adequate fallow periods,
is shrinking by 3.1% and woody biomass by 5% annually. cultivation of fragile or too shallow, unbalanced fertilizer use and
According to FAO 29 the deforestation rate in Pakistan is 77,000 improper irrigation management has had a devastating impact on
hectares annually because of ruthless cutting. If such situation land resources. Population explosion created constrains like
continues at the same pace, the area under forest in Pakistan saturation of good land, attempt to obtain multiple crops by
would be entirely gone by 2015 29. The disappearance of many irrigating unsuitable soils and ploughing of fallow land etc.
trees from rain-fed areas has contributed significantly to land
degradation and the deterioration of soil fertility. The forest area Waterlogging and salinity: Persistent seepage over the years
of Punjab is only less than 3%, whereas in Sindh it becomes half from unlined canals and large network of distributors and irrigation
of that. The continuous destruction of forests is causing a surpluses from the field have caused water table to rise close to
substantial loss. The declining rate of woody biomass is the the land surface creating water-logged conditions. Improper water
second highest in the world. It ranges between 4-6 per cent per management leading to salinization, is the cause of deteriorations
year. A study of the Siran project area, Hazara, the NWFP, shows of irrigated lands. The area under cultivations is 22 million hectares,
a 52 % decline in resource between 1967 and 1992. Similar is the of which over 16 million hectares is irrigated and about 6.3% million
situation in the Kaghan and Allai valleys. The mangrove forests hectares are salt-affected. The estimated waterlogged area with
of the Indus Delta have halved from 2600 square kilometers in late water depth within 3 meters is 9.37 million hectares, out of which
1970s to 1300 in 1990s, due to the grazing by camels. Almost 50 % 5.25 million hectares have water table within 1.5 m 33. Majority of
of the original riverain forests have been degenerated beyond salt affected soils are saline sodic in nature 34 and cultivable land
economic viability. is being lost at an alarming rate of 0.02-0.04 million hectares
annually 35. High evapotranspiration and low rainfall are
Overgrazing: The rangeland cover 26.77% land mass of Pakistan responsible for inadequate leaching and consequently the
(Table 1). Overgrazing is the major cause of desertification accumulation of salts in the root zone. The per capita cultivated
worldwide. The country suffers particularly from overgrazing of land is 0.16 ha 16. Lack of an effective drainage system to combat
pasture land, a major cause of human-induced desertification. The the twin menaces of waterlogging and salinity is the principal
people depend to a great extent on animal husbandry for their threat to the survival of irrigated agriculture in Pakistan. Irrigation
livelihood. On one hand, the low and variable rainfall results in without drainage, over irrigation, use of poor quality groundwater
reduced productivity of grassland. On the other hand, growing is the main causes of this twin menace 36. Much of the land which
livestock populations exert pressure well beyond the carrying may not be reclaimed can be used profitably by growing salt-
capacity of the pastures of the arid lands. Among the human tolerant trees and shrubs. Atriplex species displayed greater
activities that degrade rangelands, overgrazing practices by potential in highly saline soils 37.
different types of livestock are perhaps the most signicant 30. The
overgrazing effects on the plant community and soils are Urbanization/Industrialization: Urbanization refers to the
considered destructive because of the reduction of canopy cover process by which a section of people change from the way of
and compaction of soil as a result of the physical effect of agricultural operations in rural living to an urban sub-agricultural

Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.8 (2), April 2010 1205
life with predominance in secondary and tertiary function. but are also extremely slow growing. Therefore, greater attention
According to Trewartha 38 the level of urbanization is the should be focused on the introduction and selection of fast
proportion of urban population to total population residing in growing exotic tree and shrub species from isoclimatic regions of
urban places . The level of urbanization in Pakistan has gone up the world. A nationwide campaign should be led to conserve local
from 17.8 % in 1951 to 32.5 % in 1998, which recorded an increase biodiversity, enhance natural beauty and prevent soil erosion.
of 14.7 % since the first census after Independence. The current
level of urbanization in Pakistan (32.5%) is not high by global Stabilization of shifting sand-dunes: In low-rainfall areas, huge
standards. The area around industries is denuded of total shifting sand dunes are commonly found, particularly near human
vegetation in miles long stretches all around making land totally habitations. Techniques of afforesting the shifting dunes needed
degraded to desertification. to be implemented. These techniques consist of: (i) protection
against biotic interferences; (ii) treatment of shifting sand-dunes
Impacts of Desertification by fixing barriers in parallel stripes or in a chess-board design,
Pakistan being predominantly an arid and semiarid country using the local shrub material starting from the crest of the dunes
depends to a large extent on irrigated agriculture for production to protect the seedlings from burial or exposure by the blowing of
of food and fiber for the domestic needs of its people and for sand; (iii) afforestation of such treated dunes by direct seed-ling
earning foreign exchange by export of surplus commodities and and planting. The two species commonly used for erecting brush-
agro based industrial products. The country has highly complex wood barriers (micro-windbreaks) are Zizyphus nummularia and
and diversified agro-ecological and socio-economic set-up. Crotalaria burhia 40.
Watersheds in upper Indus and its tributaries suffer from
unfavorable soil and moisture regimes. Accelerated surface erosion Shelterbelt plantations to reduce wind velocity: Shelterbelts and
is reducing the life of Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs which provide tree-screens consisting of a row of trees viz. Acacia tortilis,
water for 90% of the food and fiber production in the country. The Tamarix articulata and Azadirachta indica flanked by two rows
breakdown of losses, according to types of land degradation, are (one on each side) of smaller trees like Acacia senegal, Prosopis
water erosion $5.4 billion; wind erosion $1.8 billion; fertility decline juliflora etc., with two rows (one on each side) of shrubs like
$0.6-1.2 billion; water-logging $0.5 billion and salinity $1.5 billion. Aerva tomentosa, Zizyphus spinachristi, Calligonum
Originally, the Indus Delta occupied about 2600 km consisting of polygonoides are found to be very effective for Thar desert.
creeks, mudflats and forests between Karachi in the north and the Shelterbelts reduced the wind velocity by 20-46% on the leeward
Rann of Kutch in the south. There were 17 major creeks making up side for 2H-10H during the monsoon period (H= height of
the original delta, but due to reduced flows below Kotri after the shelterbelt).
construction of water reservoirs and barrages, only the area
between Hajamro and Kharak creeks now receives water from the Rainwater harvesting in drylands: Rainfall is the only source of
Indus with Khobar Creek as the main outlet to the sea. The active freshwater source, which occurs mostly during monsoon (July to
delta is now only ten percent of its original area. In addition to September) in Pakistan. The Pakistan Council of Research in Water
agricultural productivity losses and increasing poverty, Resources (PCRWR) has been developing various techniques to
desertification results in significant reductions in carbon storage harvest rainwater by constructing ponds with different storage
in soils, contributing to global warming, and loss of biodiversity. capacities. These ponds have been designed to collect maximum
It also triggers soil erosion because of the loss of vegetative rainwater within the shortest possible time and to minimize
ground cover exacerbating water erosion and flash floods. These seepage and evaporation losses. Each system consists of storage
accelerate siltation of rivers, lakes and pollute water reserves. reservoir, energy dissipater, silting basin, lined channel, and network
of ditches in the watershed. Large scales adoption of all these
Desertification Management Strategies interventions would ultimately help improve the socio-economic
Interest in desertication is increasing and numerous studies have conditions of the residents of hyper arid area of the country.
characterized the causes, processes, and mechanisms of
desertication because of the severe harm it does to agricultural Space technology to combat desertification: Various processes,
productivity and the environment 39. Solutions to these problems which are collectively referred to as desertification, have in varying
require technological improvements and new approaches to degrees resulted in the degradation of many productive areas in
reverse land degradation that are firmly anchored in the socio- Pakistan. Repetitive high resolution satellite images, in conjunction
economic and policy contents of the government. Since with historical/existing ground-based data and maps, have been
desertification is acknowledged to be a complex phenomenon it used to examine the nature, trend and quantum of the desertification
requires the expertise of researchers in such disciplines as processes in different environmental regimes. Delineation and
climatology, soil science, meteorology, hydrology, range science, mapping of affected areas has been performed to establish a reliable
agronomy, veterinary medicine, as well as geography, political base-line for monitoring desertification processes and evolving
science, economics and anthropology as a part of committed and suitable strategies for combating them 41.
integrated effort not only to contain it but also to see it being
rehabilitated now and in future. Following modern techniques Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques: Remote sensing imagery
can be used to counter the menace of desertification in Pakistan. of a large variety of spaceborne and airborne sensors provides a
huge amount of data about our earth surface for global and detailed
Introduction of fast growing exotic tree species: The indigenous analysis, change detection and monitoring. Since information on
tree species growing in the Thar desert are not only few in number land cover and land use is critical to understand environmental

1206 Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.8 (2), April 2010
issues and changes in arid and semi-arid regions, remote sensing Conclusions
and GIS are very useful for monitoring land desertification 42. The This study reviews some of the causes and management strategies
integration of remote sensing with GIS techniques 43, 44 is becoming of desertification, identifies the patterns of land degradation and
increasingly important for the assessment of environmental highlights the future prospects of combating desertification in
changes such as land desertification control 45. The lack of global Pakistan. Desertification challenges faced by Pakistan are
scale maps of drylands remains a significant obstacle to enormous and undermine our efforts for sustainable development.
identification, prevention and mitigation of desertification. To fill There is urgent need to address land desertification through multi-
this gap, maps are needed that have some or all of the following disciplinary approach based on scientific principles. The research
characteristics. Use quantitative variables that have defined networks for assessment and monitoring of land use planning
biogeophysical meaning, identify areas that are currently in a state and management is essentially important. The activities and efforts
of desertification as well as showing areas having higher risk of already underway by public and private organizations to combat
degradation, provide a synopsis of the condition of land over a desertification should be strengthened and supplemented by well
number of years. However, land desertification monitoring using coordinated system. Partnership among government agencies,
remote sensing and GIS still needs to be continued and also refined donors, non-governmental organizations and local communities
for the purpose of long-term monitoring and the management of is a key factor for the successful control of desertification. A high
fragile ecosystems in semi-arid regions of Pakistan. priority is needed to cope with land degradation problem whose
neglect the country cannot afford.
Training Workshops: The desertification problem can be
addressed through a systematic approach. All stakeholders and Acknowledgements
development workers should be trained through training I would like to thank Dr. Muhammad Asghar Malik (University of
workshops. The first workshop to address desertification Agricultue, Faisalabad, Pakistan), who provided some very useful
“National Workshop on Combating Desertification and Promoting guidelines, instructions and comments on an earlier draft of this
Synergistic Implementation of Inter-linked Multi-Lateral paper; as did the anonymous reviewers and editors who I would
Environmental Conventions in Pakistan.” was held on 18-20 also like to thank for their thoughts and suggestions.
September, 2003, Islamabad, Pakistan. The concluding remarks
emphasized the following points: Improve linkages between References
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1208 Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment, Vol.8 (2), April 2010