The Impacts of Human Activity on One or More Deserts
Assess the impacts of human activity on one or more deserts
Human activity is becoming more prolific in deserts in recent years as governments are seeing the important resources that the desert offers. Mining and mineral exploitation, farming, tourism, and growing populations have had both positive and negative effects on desert environments, providing both income for local communities but also affecting the desert ecosystem by depleting water and nutrient supply. Deserts in the US, Middle East and South America all have increasing human activity in their deserts.
In the Atacama Desert in Chile, the extraction of sodium nitrate has been a common practice from 1850. Over 170 mining towns such as Humberstone and Santa Laura sprang up throughout the desert. The Salar de Atacama is Chile’s largest salt lake and has been mined extensively by companies such as Codelco and Lomas Bayas for bischofite which is used in agriculture and medicine. However, after the production of artificial sodium nitrate in the mid 1930s, there was a severe decline and most mining towns were deserted. They are now ghost towns, which have been left to deteriorate and decline. Humberstone’s population of 3,700 have left and it is now empty. The mining was successful for around 50 years, and made up the majority of income for the desert towns. However, the dangers of mining in deserts were highlighted in 2010 when a group of miners were trapped underground for months. The mining also destroys the desert environment and the empty villages now spoil the landscape.
In Australia uranium mining is becoming increasingly important. Australia is rich in minerals with 23% of the world’s reserves located in its deserts and with 69% of the country’s landmass a desert - it is an obvious source of income. 500,000 people are employed in mineral extraction and the GDP per capita is 50% higher in the deserts than in the rest of the country. It has attracted a lot of investment from China and Asia, and this
Human activity is becoming more prolific in deserts in recent years as governments are seeing the important resources that the desert offers. Mining and mineral exploitation, farming, tourism, and growing populations have had both positive and negative effects on desert environments, providing both income for local communities but also affecting the desert ecosystem by depleting water and nutrient supply. Deserts in the US, Middle East and South America all have increasing human activity in their deserts.
In the Atacama Desert in Chile, the extraction of sodium nitrate has been a common practice from 1850. Over 170 mining towns such as Humberstone and Santa Laura sprang up throughout the desert. The Salar de Atacama is Chile’s largest salt lake and has been mined extensively by companies such as Codelco and Lomas Bayas for bischofite which is used in agriculture and medicine. However, after the production of artificial sodium nitrate in the mid 1930s, there was a severe decline and most mining towns were deserted. They are now ghost towns, which have been left to deteriorate and decline. Humberstone’s population of 3,700 have left and it is now empty. The mining was successful for around 50 years, and made up the majority of income for the desert towns. However, the dangers of mining in deserts were highlighted in 2010 when a group of miners were trapped underground for months. The mining also destroys the desert environment and the empty villages now spoil the landscape.
In Australia uranium mining is becoming increasingly important. Australia is rich in minerals with 23% of the world’s reserves located in its deserts and with 69% of the country’s landmass a desert - it is an obvious source of income. 500,000 people are employed in mineral extraction and the GDP per capita is 50% higher in the deserts than in the rest of the country. It has attracted a lot of investment from China and Asia, and this