Allan Savory discusses how to green the world’s deserts and reverse climate change in this TED talk.
He points out that two-thirds of the earth is currently desertifying. How does desertification happen? It doesn’t just happen in arid and semi-arid lands. It can happen in any land that undergoes a period of dryness.
Common wisdom says that livestock is degrading the land, but Allan Savory says there’s more to that story. Grazing animals moving in herds reduce the amount of vegetation, but move on before they leave the soil bare. The herds trample the grass as they graze, covering the soil and reducing evaporation from the soil. They also leave behind poop, which fertilizes the soil and increases future grazing opportunities.
Allan Savory suggests that using livestock on the land to mimic nature in order to restore fertility to the land.
He’s not advocating putting animals into a limited area until they destroy the land. He’s talking about carefully planned grazing where the animals are left in a field long enough to improve the land, then moving the herd to another field.
The video is twenty-two minutes long and full of ideas and examples of successful implementation of his ideas.
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