Expanding Deserts

Forget the Global Warming concerns for few minutes. Let's think about Expanding Deserts? That's right. Though it isn't a trendy topic like global warming, the world's deserts are expanding faster than the earth is cooling, and it is just as big a problem for humans. Millions of people could lose their homes and livelihoods as the world's deserts expand because of climate change and the destruction by humans to the earth.
The First Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report warns that approximately 60 % of the world's ecosystem supporting life on Earth is being degraded or used unsustainably, and that the consequences of degradation could grow significantly worse in the next fifty years. This report comes on the eve of the 11th anniversary of a United Nations agreement to tackle the problem of spreading deserts.
Scientists say that up to 20 % of "dry lands" (deserts) have suffered some loss of plant life or economic use as a consequence of desertification. Besides the popular global warming idea we all hear so much, human factors are contributing even more to the growth of deserts and the decline of the ecosystems within our deserts. Over-grazing, over-farming, misuse of irrigation, and unsustainable demands of a growing world population are fueling the growth of deserts. Without strong efforts to stop this growth (particularly in poorer areas of the world with the biggest deserts), the areas with growing deserts will see a tremendous decline in development, increased health problems (mostly from dust storms), poverty, lessened farm production, and a growth in infant mortality rates.
This report also said that those problems have a ripple effect on non deserts areas as well, a causing a degradation there too. What does the report recommend to halt desertification? Alternative livelihoods should be employed, such as ecotoruism and fish farming as an alternative to crop farming on land. Controlling population growth, better government actions, improved management of crops and irrigation, and adopting alternative sources of energy will also help.