Desertification IELTS Reading: Bilingual Guide & Full Explanations

Desertification is not merely the expansion of natural deserts; it is the degradation of fertile land caused by both climatic factors and human activity. The reading passage “Desertification” provides a comprehensive look at the causes, the progression of this phenomenon, and potential solutions to halt it. With question types such as Matching Paragraph Information, Yes/No/Not Given, and Summary Completion, this passage requires excellent scanning and skimming skills. Let’s join ECE Language Center in a detailed analysis to help you master this type of reading task.

Reading Passage & Questions

Desertification

Paragraph A

The world’s great deserts were formed by natural processes interacting over long intervals of time. During most of these times, deserts have grown and shrunk independent of human activities. Paleodeserts, large sand seas now inactive because they are stabilized by vegetation, extend well beyond the present margins of core deserts, such as the Sahara. In some regions, deserts are separated sharply from surrounding, less arid areas by mountains and other contrasting landforms that reflect basic structural differences in the regional geology. In other areas, desert fringes form a gradual transition from a dry to a more humid environment, making it more difficult to define the desert border.

Paragraph B

These transition zones have very fragile, delicately balanced ecosystems. Desert fringes often are a mosaic of microclimates. Small hollows support vegetation that picks up heat from the hot winds and protects the land from the prevailing winds. After rainfall, the vegetated areas are distinctly cooler than the surroundings. In these marginal areas, human activity may stress the ecosystem beyond its tolerance limit, resulting in degradation of the land. By ponding the soil with their hooves, livestock compact the substrate, increase the proportion of fine material, and reduce the percolation rate of the soil, thus encouraging erosion by wind and water. Grazing and the collection of firewood reduce or eliminate plants that help to bind the soil.

Paragraph C

This degradation of formerly productive land—desertification—is a complex process. It involves multiple causes, and it proceeds at varying rates in different climates. Desertification may intensify a general climatic trend toward greater aridity, or it may initiate a change in local climate.

Paragraph D

Desertification does not occur in linear, easily mappable patterns. Deserts advance erratically, forming patches on their borders. Areas far from natural deserts can degrade quickly to barren soil, rock, or sand through poor land management. The presence of a nearby desert has no direct relationship to desertification. Unfortunately, an area undergoing desertification is brought to public attention only after the process is well underway. Often little or no data are available to indicate the previous state of the ecosystem or the rate of degradation. Scientists still question whether desertification, as a process of global change, is permanent or how and when it can be halted or reversed.

Paragraph E

Desertification became well known in the 1930s when part of the Great Plains in the United States turned into the “Dust Bowl” as a result of drought and poor practices in farming, although the term itself was not used until almost 1950. During the Dust Bowl period, millions of people were forced to abandon their farms and livelihoods. Greatly improved methods of agriculture and land and water management in the Great Plains have prevented that disaster from recurring, but desertification presently affects millions of people on almost every continent. Increased population and livestock pressure on marginal lands have accelerated desertification. In some areas, nomads moving to less arid areas disrupt the local ecosystem and increase the rate of erosion of the land. Nomads are trying to escape the desert, but because of their land-use practices, they are bringing the desert with them.

Paragraph F

It is a misconception that drought causes desertification. Droughts are common in arid and semiarid lands. Well-managed lands can recover from drought when the rains return. Continued land abuse during droughts, however, increases land degradation. By 1973, the drought that began in 1968 in the Sahel of West Africa and the land-use practices there had caused the deaths of more than 100,000 people and 12 million cattle, as well as the disruption of social organizations from villages to the national level.

Paragraph G

At the local level, individuals and governments can help to reclaim and protect their lands. In areas of sand dunes, covering the dunes with large boulders or petroleum will interrupt the wind regime near the face of the dunes and prevent the sand from moving. Sand fences are used throughout the Middle East and the United States, in the same way snow fences are used in the north. Placement of straw grids, each up to a square meter in area, will also decrease the surface wind velocity. Shrubs and trees planted within the grids are protected by the straw until they take root. In areas where some water is available for irrigation, shrubs planted on the lower one-third of a dune’s windward side will stabilize the dune. This vegetation decreases the wind velocity near the base of the dune and prevents much of the sand from moving.

Paragraph H

Oases and farmlands in windy regions can be protected by planting tree fences or grass belts. Sand that manages to pass through the grass belts can be caught in strips of trees planted as windbreaks 50 to 100 meters apart adjacent to the belts. Small plots of trees may also be scattered inside oases to stabilize the area. On a much larger scale, a “Green Wall,” which will eventually stretch more than 5,700 kilometers in length, much longer than the famous Great Wall, is being planted in northeastern China to protect “sandy lands” – deserts believed to have been created by human activity.

Paragraph I

More efficient use of existing water resources and control of salinization are other effective tools for improving arid lands. New ways are being sought to use surface-water resources such as rainwater harvesting or irrigating with seasonal runoff from adjacent highlands. Research on the reclamation of deserts also is focusing on discovering proper crop rotation to protect the fragile soil, on understanding how sand-fixing plants can be adapted to local environments, and on how grazing lands and water resources can be developed effectively without being overused.

Questions

Questions 14 – 19

Reading Passage 2 contains 9 paragraphs (A-I). Which paragraphs state the following information? Write the appropriate letters (A-I).

14. Desertification poses a threat to people worldwide.

15. It is difficult to describe the process of desertification.

16. Desertification may alter local climates.

17. People have misconceptions regarding desertification origins.

18. It is hard to notice desertification in its early stages.

19. Straw grids diminish the swiftness of the surface wind.

Questions 20 – 23

Do the following statements agree with the claims of the writer in Reading Passage 2? Write YES, NO or NOT GIVEN.

20. All desert borders are difficult to define.

21. Desertification is a reversible process.

22. Part of the Great Plains did not become a so-called “Dust Bowl” until almost 1950.

23. Nomads cannot get away from the desert because of their current land-use methods.

Questions 24 – 26

Complete the summary below. Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Tree fences or grass belts planted inside oases can catch sand in the wind and (24) ……………….. these areas as well. The “Green Wall” is an example.

Water resource management and prevention of (25) ……………….. are also effective in protecting lands.

Scientists are trying to find (26) ……………….. to protect the vulnerable soil.

Detailed Translation

Paragraph A: The world’s great deserts were formed by natural processes interacting over long intervals of time. During most of these times, deserts have grown and shrunk independent of human activities. Paleodeserts, large sand seas now inactive because they are stabilized by vegetation, extend well beyond the present margins of core deserts, such as the Sahara. In some regions, deserts are separated sharply from surrounding, less arid areas by mountains and other contrasting landforms… In other areas, desert fringes form a gradual transition from a dry to a more humid environment, making it more difficult to define the desert border.

Paragraph B: These transition zones have very fragile, delicately balanced ecosystems. Desert fringes often are a mosaic of microclimates… In these marginal areas, human activity may stress the ecosystem beyond its tolerance limit, resulting in degradation of the land. By ponding the soil with their hooves, livestock compact the substrate, increase the proportion of fine material, and reduce the percolation rate of the soil, thus encouraging erosion by wind and water…

Paragraph C: This degradation of formerly productive land—desertification—is a complex process. It involves multiple causes, and it proceeds at varying rates in different climates. Desertification may intensify a general climatic trend toward greater aridity, or it may initiate a change in local climate.

Paragraph D: Desertification does not occur in linear, easily mappable patterns. Deserts advance erratically, forming patches on their borders. Areas far from natural deserts can degrade quickly to barren soil, rock, or sand through poor land management… Unfortunately, an area undergoing desertification is brought to public attention only after the process is well underway. Often little or no data are available to indicate the previous state of the ecosystem or the rate of degradation…

Paragraph E: Desertification became well known in the 1930s when part of the Great Plains in the United States turned into the “Dust Bowl” as a result of drought and poor practices in farming, although the term itself was not used until almost 1950… Desertification presently affects millions of people on almost every continent. Increased population and livestock pressure on marginal lands have accelerated desertification. In some areas, nomads moving to less arid areas disrupt the local ecosystem and increase the rate of erosion of the land. Nomads are trying to escape the desert, but because of their land-use practices, they are bringing the desert with them.

Paragraph F: It is a misconception that drought causes desertification. Droughts are common in arid and semiarid lands. Well-managed lands can recover from drought when the rains return. However, continued land abuse during droughts increases land degradation…

Paragraph G: At the local level, individuals and governments can help to reclaim and protect their lands. In areas of sand dunes… Sand fences are used throughout the Middle East and the United States… Placement of straw grids, each up to a square meter in area, will also decrease the surface wind velocity. Shrubs and trees planted within the grids are protected by the straw until they take root…

Paragraph H: Oases and farmlands in windy regions can be protected by planting tree fences or grass belts… Small plots of trees may also be scattered inside oases to stabilize the area. On a much larger scale, a “Green Wall”… is being planted in northeastern China…

Paragraph I: More efficient use of existing water resources and control of salinization are other effective tools for improving arid lands… Research on the reclamation of deserts also is focusing on discovering proper crop rotation to protect the fragile soil…

Key Vocabulary Summary

Answers & Detailed Explanations

14. E

• Question: Desertification poses a threat to people worldwide.

• Location: Paragraph E: “desertification presently affects millions of people on almost every continent.”

• Explanation: The text states that desertification affects millions of people on almost every continent (worldwide).

15. D

• Question: It is difficult to describe the process of desertification.

• Location: Paragraph D: “Desertification does not occur in linear, easily mappable patterns. Deserts advance erratically…”

• Explanation: Desertification does not follow linear or easily mappable patterns; it advances erratically, which implies it is difficult to describe.

16. C

• Question: Desertification may alter local climates.

• Location: Paragraph C: “or it may initiate a change in local climate.”

• Explanation: The information matches perfectly.

17. F

• Question: People have misconceptions regarding desertification origins.

• Location: Paragraph F: “It is a misconception that drought causes desertification.”

• Explanation: The misconception is that drought is the cause (origin) of desertification.

18. D

• Question: It is hard to notice desertification in its early stages.

• Location: Paragraph D: “Unfortunately, an area undergoing desertification is brought to public attention only after the process is well underway.”

• Explanation: It only gains attention once the process is well underway, meaning the early stages are hard to notice.

19. G

• Question: Straw grids diminish the swiftness of the surface wind.

• Location: Paragraph G: “Placement of straw grids… will also decrease the surface wind velocity.”

• Explanation: “Diminish” = “decrease”, “swiftness” = “velocity”.

20. NO

• Question: All desert borders are difficult to define.

• Location: Paragraph A: “In some regions, deserts are separated sharply… In other areas… making it more difficult to define the desert border.”

• Explanation: The text states that some areas are separated sharply (easy to define), while others are difficult. Therefore, the statement “all are difficult” is FALSE.

21. NOT GIVEN

• Question: Desertification is a reversible process.

• Location: Paragraph D: “Scientists still question whether desertification… is permanent or how and when it can be halted or reversed.”

• Explanation: Scientists are still questioning this; there is no definitive confirmation on whether it can be reversed.

22. NO

• Question: Part of the Great Plains did not become a so-called “Dust Bowl” until almost 1950.

• Location: Paragraph E: “Desertification became well known in the 1930s when part of the Great Plains… turned into the ‘Dust Bowl’… although the term itself was not used until almost 1950.”

• Explanation: The event occurred in the 1930s. Only the term appeared in 1950. The statement is incorrect regarding the timing of the event.

23. YES

• Question: Nomads cannot get away from the desert because of their current land-use methods.

• Location: Paragraph E: “Nomads are trying to escape the desert,

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