June 17

Desertification is the transformation of an area in a desert. The term desertification has been widely used for the loss of productive capacity of ecosystems caused by human activity. Due to environmental conditions, the economic activities in a region may exceed the capacity and sustainability. The process is little perceptive by local people. There are also genetic erosion of wild fauna and flora, the extinction of species and possible proliferation of exotic species. It has origin, in the case of sandy deserts, on the impoverishment of the soil and consequent death of vegetation, being replaced by sandy ground. In the case of polar deserts, the obvious question is the extremely low temperatures in those regions. At a United Nations’ convention desertification was defined as the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid resulting from various factors such as climatic variations and human activities. June 17 is the World Day to Combat Desertification.

Diogo Mourão, 802

Filipe Carvalho, 802

Alexandrina, 802

Ana Isabel, 802