How to green the world's deserts and reverse climate change | Allan Savory

TED2 minutes read

The text discusses the looming threat of a massive tsunami perfect storm due to rising population, desertification, and climate change. It emphasizes the importance of using livestock to mimic nature's herds and predators to prevent desertification and restore land health, providing successful examples in Zimbabwe, Mexico, and Patagonia.

Insights

  • Desertification, driven by factors like overgrazing and bare ground creation, significantly contributes to climate change and poses severe global consequences.
  • Utilizing nature-based solutions such as holistic management and planned grazing, inspired by natural herd movements, can effectively reverse desertification, increase crop yields, combat climate change, and alleviate issues like hunger and poverty globally.

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Recent questions

  • How does desertification contribute to climate change?

    Desertification, caused by creating too much bare ground, is a significant factor in climate change. It leads to soil degradation and carbon release, exacerbating the greenhouse effect.

  • What are the primary causes of desertification?

    Desertification is primarily caused by livestock overgrazing, which degrades the soil and contributes to carbon release. Traditional methods like burning grasslands also worsen desertification.

  • Can planned grazing techniques reverse desertification?

    Yes, holistic management and planned grazing techniques can reverse desertification by mimicking nature's herds and predators. This approach restores land health and increases crop yields.

  • Where have successful examples of land restoration through planned grazing been observed?

    Successful examples of restoring degraded land through planned grazing exist in countries like Zimbabwe, Mexico, and Patagonia. These cases demonstrate the effectiveness of implementing nature-based solutions.

  • How can implementing planned grazing globally combat climate change and land degradation?

    Implementing planned grazing globally is crucial to combat climate change, hunger, poverty, and social unrest caused by land degradation. By mimicking natural movements and utilizing nature-based solutions, it is possible to remove carbon from the atmosphere and restore degraded land.

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Summary

00:00

Global Desertification: Threat, Causes, and Solutions

  • The looming threat of a massive tsunami perfect storm is due to rising population, desertification, and climate change.
  • Desertification, caused by creating too much bare ground, is a significant factor in climate change.
  • Two-thirds of the world's land is desertifying, leading to severe consequences.
  • Desertification is not limited to arid areas but also affects high rainfall grasslands.
  • Desertification is primarily caused by livestock overgrazing, leading to soil degradation and carbon release.
  • Traditional methods like burning grasslands exacerbate desertification and climate change.
  • The solution lies in using livestock to mimic nature's herds and predators, preventing desertification and restoring land health.
  • Holistic management and planned grazing techniques can reverse desertification and increase crop yields.
  • Successful examples of restoring degraded land through planned grazing exist in Zimbabwe, Mexico, and Patagonia.
  • Implementing planned grazing globally is crucial to combat climate change, hunger, poverty, and social unrest caused by land degradation.

19:19

"Nature-based solutions restore carbon levels sustainably"

  • By implementing nature-based solutions on a global scale, it is possible to effectively remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it in grassland soils, potentially leading to a return to pre-industrial carbon levels while also supporting food production.
  • The process involves introducing animals to degraded land, mimicking natural movements and utilizing a sigmoid curve principle, which has been successful in increasing stocking rates without the need for additional feeding, except in extreme cases like mine reclamation.
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