The United Nations has described desertification as “the greatest environmental challenge of our time”, and climate change only worsens it.
Contrary to what is widely thought, desertification is not necessarily the natural expansion of existing deserts. It is ultimately a human-induced process exacerbated by extreme weather conditions like droughts and heavy rains associated with climate change.
The situation in the Mediterranean is even more worrying. Environmental experts warn that one-third of the land is already degraded in the Mediterranean regions. This trend keeps increasing.
The local farming community is understandably concerned about the shortage of rain this year, and even more by the developing trend of a significant drop in rainfall over the past several years.
Marine biologist Alan Deidun said the dry conditions we are seeing this year are incredible: “If you consider that autumn is generally the wettest time of the year, there is not much hope for much rain in the coming months.”
The way to address this challenge is not to adopt a fatalistic attitude by arguing that not much can be done to combat the forces of nature. While climate change is a global phenomenon that a small island like Malta cannot address on its own, the causes of desertification go beyond climate change.
A long-term plan to fight the threats of desertification must be urgently defined to identify the causes of this phenomenon locally and propose the best practices to mitigate the risks.
Undoubtedly, a top priority must be projects that encourage practices that can prevent land degradation.
Sustainable land management practices, which are based on the local socio-economic and ecological conditions, will help mitigate the risk of desertification in the first place and also reduce ongoing degradation processes.
There is no silver bullet to prevent and reverse desertification
The building practices that have destroyed many of the country’s valleys in the past decades must be abolished without further delay.
Hydrologist Marco Cremona said rainwater is finding it difficult to enter the rock because built-up areas have replaced fields, and infrastructure meant to temporarily collect the water to let it seep in the rock has not been maintained.
The farming community that is the custodian of the little agricultural land left must be better supported to adopt practices based on agroecological principles and conservation agriculture to improve water availability and organic matter in the soil. These practices also aim to protect agricultural land from erosion and salinisation.
Our agricultural land has low soil organic content due to low water availability. The distribution of recycled water must be expanded to satisfy the irrigation needs of more farmers.
Applying principles of circular economy, recycling and composting to enrich the soil and make it healthier and more resilient can help farmers see a more secure future.
Fighting desertification and land degradation should happen through a multi-level approach.
For instance, tourism policymakers must assess the socio-economic cost of water consumption by the three million tourists visiting the island annually. Tourism substantially impacts water consumption, and we must ensure that all fairly fund the cost of the production of fresh water.
The cost-benefit analysis of subsidising our mass tourism industry with subsidised energy and water rates must be discussed more openly to ensure that our limited physical and financial resources are optimised.
Worryingly, a Eurobarometer survey found that almost 70 per cent of Maltese believe the local authorities are unprepared to deal with a natural disaster caused by climate change.
There is no silver bullet to prevent and reverse desertification. Policymakers, economic operators, farmers and scientists must collaborate to define viable solutions to desertification risks.