GCSE-ready- Home
- Lessons
- GCSE & IGCSE Geography A
- Impacts of desertification, deforestation and climate change
Impacts of desertification, deforestation and climate change
🎬 The doodle video for this lesson is coming soon. Subscribe on YouTube to see it first.
When fragile environments are damaged, the effects reach people, economies and the whole planet.
Desertification
Economic: lower crop yields and fewer animals, so farmers' incomes fall.
Environmental: soil erosion, dust storms and loss of plants and animals.
Deforestation
Climate: burning and rotting trees release carbon dioxide, and fewer trees absorb it.
Soil erosion: without tree roots and leaf cover, heavy rain washes soil away.
Economic development: clearing land brings jobs, exports and income in the short term.
Climate change on fragile environments
More hazards, such as droughts, floods and stronger storms.
Ecosystem change: coral bleaching, melting permafrost and species moving.
People: fewer jobs in farming, fishing and tourism, changing settlement patterns, and risks to health and food supply.
Explain how deforestation contributes to climate change.
- Trees store carbon and absorb carbon dioxide during photosynthesis.
- When forests are burned or rot, the stored carbon is released as carbon dioxide.
- With fewer trees, less carbon dioxide is absorbed, so more stays in the atmosphere and enhances the greenhouse effect.
Answer: Releases stored carbon and reduces carbon uptake.
Desertification causes food shortages, migration, falling incomes and soil erosion. Deforestation causes biodiversity loss, carbon dioxide emissions and soil erosion, but brings short-term economic gains. Climate change threatens fragile places through sea level rise, more hazards, ecosystem change and impacts on jobs, settlement, health and food supply.
Check you have got it
Answer 6 quick questions with instant marking. If you get one wrong, GCSE-ready shows you why and gives you another go. It is free, and you do not need an account.