Thar desert

Question 1

Where is it?

Answer 1

• It is one of the major hot deserts of the world
• stretches across NW India and into Pakistan
• covers an area of some 200000km2 mostly in the Indian state of Rajasthan
• most densely populated desert in the world

Question 2

Characteristics of the Thar desert

Answer 2

• soils are sandy and not very fertile, with little organic matter to enrich them. They drain very quickly so there is little surface water
• The landscape is mainly sandy hills with extensive mobile sand dunes and clumps of thorn forest vegetation-a mixture of small trees, shrubs and grasses
• Rainfall is low, between 100 and 240 mm per year, and summer temperatures in July can reach 53 degrees Celsius.

Question 3

Opportunities for development-mineral extraction

Answer 3

-the desert region has valuable reserves of minerals used all over India and exported across the world
-The most important minerals are:
.gypsum (used in making plaster for the construction industry and making cement)
.feldspar (used to make ceramics)
.phospherite (used for making fertiliser)
.kaolin (used as a whitener in paper)
There are also valuable reserves of stone in the region.At Jaisalmer the Sanu limestone is the main source of limestone for India’s steel industry. Valuable reserves of marble are quarried near Jodhpur, to be used in the construction industry.

Question 4

Opportinities for development-tourism

Answer 4

• In recent years, the Thar Desert has become a popular tourist destination.
• Between July and September 2013 alone, 2385 tourist vehicles were recorded entering the Thar Desert region
• Desert safaris on camels, based at Jaisalmer, have become particularly popular with foreigners and wealthy Indians from elsewhere in the country.
• There is an annual Desert Festival held every winter which focuses on celebrating the local culture of the Rajasthani desert communities, including camel races, turban tying competitions and best moustache competition. Local people benefit by providing food and accommodation and by acting as a guide or rearing and looking after the camels.
• Local shopkeepers also see an increase in sales-one salesman estimated that tourism increases his sales by 400% in a single year.
• There is starting to be a greater focus on ecotourism n the desert region eg: ‘Helping Hands’- work with the community in a desert village close to Jaisalmer. The project involves tourists in developing educational and medical facilities for the village community.

Question 5

Energy-oil

Answer 5

A large oilfield has been discovered in the Barmer district which could transform the local economy. Oil reserves were first discovered in Rajasthan in 2004, and this led to a surge of land and property prices in the region. The discovery of oil and fossil fuels help India to become more energy self-sufficient.

Question 6

Energy-coal

Answer 6

-The Thar Desert is a rich energy source
coal-There are extensive lignite coal deposits in parts of the Thar Desert and a thermal energy plant has been constructed at Giral. There is a coalfield which boasts some 175 billion tonnes of coal which has the potential to power the country for centuries.It has one of the world’s largest remaining coal reserves.

Question 7

Energy-wind

Answer 7

Recently there has been a focus on developing wind power, a renewable form of energy. The Jaisalmer Wind Park was constructed in 2001. This is India’s largest wind farm. It has a total capacity of 1600 MW.

Question 8

Energy-solar

Answer 8

• With its sunny, cloudless skies, the Thar Desert offers ideal conditions for solar power generation. At Bhaleri, solar power is used in water treatment. It involves installing 750 water purification projects in villages across the desert region. 250 installed in 2015. Danish technology pumps underground water. Impurities from water are then removed using American membrane technology- Reverse Osmosis. Each RO plant runs on zero electricity cost.
• Biggest of these water plants stands on a hill near Mithi- has the capacity of purifying 2 million gallons of water daily. At full capacity, it benefits 300,000 people.

Question 9

Farming

Answer 9

• Subsistence: Most of the people living in the desert are involved in subsistence farming. They survive in the hot and dry conditions by grazing animals on the grassy areas and cultivating vegetables and fruit trees. Between Feb and June, farmers often have to cover huge areas of land for their livestock-if it wasn’t for livestock, subsistence agriculture would not take place as the conditions for crops are not reliable.
• Commercial farming: It has grown in recent decades, made possible by irrigation and access to fertilisers and pesticides
• In Rajasthan, India, there has been a construction of a 650 km Indira Ghandi Canal (1958). Crops like wheat and cotton now thrive in an area that used to have poor soil quality. Other crops grown under irrigation include pulses, sesame, maize and mustard.

Question 10

Challenges for development -temperatures

Answer 10

• The Thar Desert suffers from extremely high temperatures, sometimes exceeding 50 degrees Celsius in the summer. This presents challenges for people, animals and plants living in this environment.
• Working outside in the heat of the day can be very hard, especially for farmers
• High rates of evaporation lead to water shortages which can affect people as well as plants and animals
• Plants and animals have adapted to survive in extreme heat. Some animals are nocturnal, hibernating in the cooler ground during the daytime. Livestock, such as cattle and goats, need shade to protect them from the intense sun.

Question 11

Water supply- challenges for development

Answer 11

-has become a serious issue due to population growth and development of farming- scarce resource as the desert has low annual rainfall, high temperatures and strong winds. This causes high rates of evaporation
-Sources of rainfall:
.traditionally, drinking water for people and animals is stored in ponds (tobas) and others are man-made (johads)
-There are a few rivers and streams that flow through the desert, such as the River Luni which feeds a marshy area called the Rann, but these are intermittent and only flow after rainfall. Most of these settlements are found alongside these rivers.
-Some water can be obtained from underground sources (aquifers) using wells but this water is salty and not very good quality.

Question 12

Indira Ghandi Canal

Answer 12

• The main form of irrigation in the desert is the Indira Gandi Canal (Rajasthan) Canal. This source of fresh water has transformed an extensive area of the desert and has revolutionised farming.
• Commercial farming,growing crops such as wheat and cotton, now flourishes in an area that used to be scrub desert.
• Two of the main areas to benefit from the canal are centered on the cities of Jodhpur and Jaisalmer where over 3500 km2 of land is under irrigation
• constructed in 1958 the canal has a total length of 650km
• The canal provides drinking water to many people in the desert

Question 13

Inaccessibility

Answer 13

• due to the very extreme weather and presence of vast barren areas there is a very limited road network across the Thar Desert.
• the high temperatures can cause the tarmac to melt and the strong winds often blow sand over the roads
• many places are accessible only by camel, which is a traditional form of transport in the region
• Public transport often involves seriously overladen buses.

Question 14

What is desertification?

Answer 14

It is where land is gradually turned into a desert

• it occurs mostly on the ecologically fragile borders of existing deserts
• it can occur when land is overgrazed by livestock or stripped of vegetation by people collecting firewood

Question 15

Desertification is:

Answer 15

• a result of both natural and human events (eg: droughts and management)
• affects both poor and rich countries
• threatens one billion people in areas at risk

Question 16

What do slight changes in temperature and rainfall associated with climate change make these areas?

Answer 16

• makes them more prone to over-cultivation, overgrazing or the stripping of vegetation for fuelwood

Question 17

What are causes of desertification?

Answer 17

• 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲: it results in drier conditions and unreliable rainfall in some regions (eg: the Sahel on the southern margins of the Sahara).
• 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴: Population pressure results in the limited vegetation supporting too many animals
• 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿-𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: more people need more food, which exhausts the soil turning it to dust
• 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱: Population growth increases demand. Trees that are stripped of branches eventually die.

Question 18

What are the consequences of desertification?

Answer 18

• 𝘀𝗼𝗶𝗹 𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: Where vegetation is destroyed, it exposes soil which cracks and breaks up, making it vulnerable to erosion by wind and rain
• 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: rapid evaporation or poorly practised irrigation leads to surface salts building up, which kill the plants

Question 19

How can land at risk from desertification be managed sustainably?

Answer 19

• water and soil management: irrigation needs to be managed carefully is salinisation is to be avoided. Too much irrigation and/or badly drained schemes build up toxic salts on the surface
• ponding banks: low walls enclose areas of land to store water
• contour traps: embankments built along slopes prevent soil being washed away during heavy rainfall
• National park status- gives legal protection to areas at risk. eg: the Thar Desert National Park was created to protect some 3000 km2 of desert and reduce the risk of desertification
• tree planting: reduces soil erosion because the roots bind the soil together, and the leaves and branches provide shade, grazing for animals and fuelwood eg: Prosopis cineraria in the Thar desert

Question 20

Prosopis cineraria in the Thar desert

Answer 20

It provides:

• plenty of foliage and seed pods for animals to eat
• good quality firewood
• strong wood for building material
• shade and moist growing conditions for plants
• long root system, deep and well developed, allowing the plant to obtain moisture from ground water. It does not compete for moisture and nutrients with crops, making it a useful plant to grow alongside subsistence or commercial crops

Question 21

strategy 1: increase community responsibility for the sustainable use of local resources

Answer 21

• 25 community based water-use associations of Jal Sabhas have mobilised local communities to effectively manage and monitor the use of local resources.

Question 22

Strategy 2: Stabilisation of shifting sand dunes

Answer 22

• in low rainfall areas, huge shifting sand dunes are commonly found, particularly near human habitations
• dune stabilisation mostly involves fixing barriers in parallel stripes using local shrub material

Question 23

Strategy 3: Shelterbelt plantations for reducing wind velocity

Answer 23

• shelterbelts and tree-screens consisting of a row of taller trees with two rows of smaller trees on each side with two rows of shrubs on each side were found to be very effective for the Thar desert
• In some areas, shelterbelts reduced the wind velocity by 20-46%, helping to reduce soil erosion and loss which prevents degradation of the land.

Question 24

Strategy 4: Forestry of economically productive species

Answer 24

• Ber tree
• produces large fruits and can survive successfully in low rainfall conditions
• Planting 35 Ber trees in one instance on one hectare of land yielded 10,000kg of Ber
• fruits can be sold, local community profits. More sustainable.

Question 25

Strategy 5: National Park Conservation

Answer 25

- In order to visit the DNP, prior permission must be obtained - by restricting access in this way, the volume of visitors to the National park can be monitored and managed, preventing illegal use of the area for cultivation, grazing, mining or tourism purposes - this reduces pressure on the fragile ecosystem preventing further degradation of the land.