an oryx

Unsustainable hunting
Because of the shortage of food and water in the desert, animal populations, particularly those of the larger species, tend to be low in comparison with other regions. This makes them particularly vulnerable to external factors such as intensive hunting. When people in the desert were mainly nomadic farmers, damage to the numbers of animals there was limited. But with the advent of modern technology such as motor vehicles and guns, hunting of some species reached critical levels. In the Sahara, the addax and oryx antelopes have suffered devastating declines in numbers due to unsustainable hunting, and now they are among the most threatened of all desert wildlife.

Although desertification, water extraction and hunting are the three most critical conservation issues affecting deserts, there are others whose impact can be equally detrimental. Deserts are often the source of minerals such as iron ore, uranium and oil. This makes them targets for companies that have little or no concern for the environment. Open-cast mining, which is employed in the Arizona desert of the US, can be extremely damaging. This type of mining involves using heavy machinery to remove the topsoil, subsoil and rock, exposing the mineral reserves below. Aside from the direct environmental effects of stripping the landscape down to the bare rock, this kind of mineral extraction often requires large amounts of water and produces waste, both of which are highly undesirable in the desert.

But not all industries associated with the desert are destructive. Tourism, if conducted with proper consideration for the fragile desert environment, can be beneficial from a conservation standpoint, as well as providing income for local people. When combined with sustainable development strategies, which aim to improve the way people interact with their environment, ecologically sound tourism could provide the key to slowing the process of desertification.

photo courtesy of WWF-UK

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