Desertification #AtoZChallenge

In this post, I will look at one of the changes happening on earth, as this provides fodder for creating dystopias. Desertification is when land degrades into arid areas, known as drylands. This results from both climate and human activity. Desertification is marked by a decline in vegetation productivity which leads to lower incomes for people and reduced biodiversity for the flora and fauna. In such regions, people may overtax the groundwater, depleting it, and further fueling the problem. Increased droughts lead to increased dust and sand storms and dune movement which can interfere with transportation routes and human health.

The implications for the future where desertification is a key trend are staggering. They include:

• Starvation as food supplies dwindle, leading to mass migration.
• Water wars as the need for water increases and access declines.
• Dunes so big they swallow cities.
• New technologies including domes to protect cities, and suits to recycle water released from the body (such as those used by the Fremen in Frank Herbert’s Dune).
• Return to more nomadic cultures as the landscape shifts on a more regular basis.
• Extreme overpopulation in the habitable land areas, leading to overcrowding, disease, slums.
• Evolution in human and plant biology to better adapt to high heats, different food sources.

Any other possible implication that I missed? What are your thoughts.?

Want to know more. Check out this chapter on desertification by the intergovernmental panel on climate change.

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