ES Paper

Reclaiming Arica from Desertification

Mia Lin

Professor Patricia Redden

EV-100-01 Affiliation

A lot of this seems to be copied from sources, based on the “voice” of the material; I did not run it through a check for plagiarism yet. There are a lot of unanswered questions that I have indicated in the body of the text. Additionally, I have only noted a few grammatical errors; you have to review it carefully for punctuation in particular. Primarily, you have to indicate how you are going to get the government and individuals to buy into your proposal and what will happen if they don’t.

Reclaiming Arica from Desertification

Introduction Is Arica only a city or is it both a city and a region? This first paragraph seems to indicate it’s both, but that contradicts the first sentence.

Arica is a northern Chile Port City with an approximate population of 220,000 people, a 97% proportion of the northern inhabitants (this isn’t clear – 97% of the total population of Chile, of northern Chile, ??) (Rau, 2006). The city is blessed with strategic positioning as a port city that serves a big portion of the South American mainland. Bolivia is one key beneficiary whose substantive trade is controlled by Arica as its free port. The connection is by road and railway, but further economic reliance stems from the fact that Arica acts as an end station to Bolivia's pipeline system (Rau, 2006). Arica's commercial strategic positioning is enhanced through railway connectivity to Peru and direct access to the Pan-American Highway. Being served by an international airport is an icing to its cake, because global accessibility is guaranteed. The Azapa valley in Arica is famed for development of a year round farming system of agriculture that heavily relies on the advancement in irrigation (does it rely on irrigation or on advances in irrigation techniques? If the latter, what are the advances?) as well as the impressive transport network. However, a mild desert climate has affected the region from further development and settlement. The prevailing settlement pattern is shrinking to urban areas thus discouraging agriculture and land development. This paper explores strategies that would see a change in land usage through proposed reclamation initiatives.

Situational Analysis

The desert reclamation efforts must not be seen as impossible because desertification is a process that changes once fertile and productive land. A reversal is possible if we consider it took nature a long period to cause the same desert. Patience is essential as initiatives may run through generations if absolute success is to be achieved. A series of combined efforts can provide progress in the state of the environment within Arica. This stems from physical efforts on the ground as well as environmental considerations. It should be noted that humidity and cloud cover are two of the major causes of the ever-increasing temperatures and extreme heat waves during the summer periods (Rau, 2006). High temperatures have a double effect of damaging land and vegetation as well as negatively affecting the level of human activity through limited work hours.

Reduction of Air Pollution

In my opinion, Global warming is a cover word used to signify universal desertification. Global warming is a phenomenon where the sun rays penetrate the atmosphere to reach the earth surface but the reflected radiations are blocked by the presence of some gases and other pollutants from escaping the earth (Goldstein, 2009). This results into heat entrapment that sees causes a general increase in global temperatures. Citing this situation, desert areas must have dense, atmospheric pollution and the spreading is a direct result of the continued spread of the pollutants to neighboring atmospheric regions. (Desertification may result from global forces, not just atmospheric pollution specifically in the desert area.) Therefore, reducing air pollution is one way of ensuring sun radiations onto the earth surface escape the atmosphere after reflection. Arica must revisit their air pollution preventive initiatives and intensify areas that compromise carbon emissions and other pollutants (awkwardly phrased, unless it is a direct quote, in which case it should be enclosed in quotation marks – does this mean to reduce carbon emissions?) (Goldstein, 2009). However, this is a process that will take a long duration of time but it has a negligible budget (whose budget? Government? Industry?). Industrialists must be heavily penalized for unsafe emissions that are not controlled by the set national and global standards. The resultant fines are to be channeled into land reclamation efforts in areas adjacent to the factories to act as reminders, public sensitizers and counter the atmospheric problem from its geographical proximity (again, a direct quote or awkward phrasing?). Increased precipitation thus humidity in Arica is likely to originate from air pollution. The particles of various pollutants act as "nuclei" that form minute skeletons that water forms around thus increasing humidity (Goldstein, 2009). Some of the water molecules prove heavy thus drop to the ground as light rainfall showers that contain the pollutants. Therefore, the pollutants particles penetrate the earth surface making it saline and unproductive. (If your problem is desertification, increasing the rainfall would be beneficial, wouldn’t it? Why do rain showers make the earth saline? Does the rain contain salts, which give a saline solution?) Intensifying air pollution campaigns and sensitizing the public over the environmental effect will ensure consistency through the Arican generations, thus possible reduction in desertification. Extensive planting of deep-rooted trees (is there underground water for these trees?) is good for reduction of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere because plants use the gas during photosynthesis. The vast desert land symbolizes wasted resources and capacity of using this method to contribute toward the control of carbon emissions.

Arid Land Habitation

The settlement trend is not conducive for desert reclamation initiatives. The Arican’s are slowly shrinking into urban centers and seeking other income generating opportunities away from agriculture (Rau, 2006). Apart from the farming in Azapa Valley, minimum land activity takes place in the region. The government has to embark on a program that will reward individuals for occupying the desert land away from Azapa valley and engage them in paid land-reclamation initiatives. The immediate arid land (?) to the urban centers should be the target for proximity and distribution of resources. Simple (? How deep is the ground water?) boreholes must be constructed to support subsistence farming that must have the domestication of animals. This is necessary because animal waste provides manure that is vital for the development of water retention capacity of the soil. Supplementary irrigation options must be availed available to the volunteers to encourage continuous productivity.

The volunteers must then apply biochar engineering. This involves the use of solid material such as charcoal obtained from the carbonization of biomass in soil amendment (what does this mean?) (Eyhorn, 2007). Biochar is essential in soil rehabilitation because it improves its ability to hold water and nutrients. This is a double-edged advantage because biomass agents would otherwise decompose and naturally contribute to the percentage of greenhouse gasses that form a big portion of the air pollutants. (Burning the biomass contributes the same amount of carbon dioxide as letting it decompose naturally, but in a shorter time frame. Is that really better?) Biochar is good at neutralizing the saline state associated with desert land (why?). Since most of the water used for irrigation comes from the ocean (you can’t irrigate with ocean water unless it is first desalinated; you earlier said to use ground water for irrigation), effective use of Biochar will ensure the acidity level (acidity and saline content are not the same thing; does biochar control both? If so, how?) of the land is controlled and eliminated in both the short and long run. After steady progress is made in the vicinity of the urban centers, more people should be decentralized and moved further into the desert land to intensify the surface coverage mission.

Greenhouse Farming

Greenhouses are simply agricultural structures that are designed to provide crops with the ideal environment for productivity in an artificial way. In order to bring meaning to the land habitation initiatives discussed, the government through established budgets must meet the volunteers' efforts.

The first development is extensive irrigation that would include transferring water from the ocean to remote parts of the desert. This will encourage volunteers to occupy and settle in between the urban centers and the remote establishments. Once the seawater reaches the destination, desalination has to take place. This process is known to be costly, but recent inventions in new solar technologies should be exploited to the fullest level. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) is substantially economical (Talus, 2014). CPS units use expensive mirrors/ lenses to cover large areas exposed to sunlight to converge the energy into restricted areas of interest. (what does this mean?) The intensity of the sun in the desert guarantees consistency in solar power generation and sufficient energy to cover the process of desalination. The surplus power can be used as an incentive of free electricity for volunteers who consider settlement in remote desert areas.

As the water is being desalinated, the same can double to provide the humidity needed in the greenhouses to assist in the process of cooling the temperature. The second advantage is contained in use of less energy because the desert temperatures result into natural evaporation necessary for the distillation process of desalination (Komoto, 2009). (Natural evaporation will increase humidity but not provide fresh water. How does increasing the humidity result in cooler temperatures? Greenhouses concentrate the heat by trapping it; they don’t give a cooler temperature.) The fresh water from distillation and desalination processes is utilized for human consumption as well as agricultural production. The air used for humidity and cooling of the greenhouse temperature is periodically expelled into plantations around the greenhouses. This assists in environmental regulation (?) around the outdoor plants and consistency with mass practice (?) will have a lasting impact on the atmosphere.

Diversity in Development

Greenhouse farming through seawater has various advantages based on the by-products. The residue from the desalination process contains a wide range of minerals and salts which can be directly applied (to what?), dried or processed for economical use. Dried salts can be used to supplement the nutritional needs of the volunteer’s farm animals. Both liquid and solid wastes are good sources of fertilizer to be applied in the greenhouse as well as outdoor plantations.

Harvesting of sodium chloride and calcium carbonate from the residue can ensure a thriving construction industry is built. (How are they used in construction? Sodium chloride is the main component of table salt.) This will make the costs of constructing residential houses cheaper thus attract more volunteers. The industry will attract people to the areas seeking employment leading to extra voluntary manpower. Magnesium Chloride is also an essential mineral in the assembly of low energy cooling systems (why?) while lithium is applied in the production of electrical batteries (Wang, 2009). How much of these chemicals will realistically be obtained from a desalination plant?

If bigger reservoirs are established for the seawater before desalination, fish farming can be practiced to introduce variety in the animal products in the remote desert areas. Microalgae, shrimps, shellfish and seaweed, can be produced for both domestic and commercial use. Even though feasibility is yet to be determined, possible hydroelectric power can be generated if sizeable dams for water storage are constructed in place of reservoirs. (Dams require movement of water to generate electricity. How would water in the reservoirs move?) The diversity development perspective is meant to lure individuals with other areas of interests or professions outside agriculture or land reclamation into settlement in the remote arid areas.

Concerns

In order to realize the movement of people from urban centers into desert land, reasonable assurance has to be provided on productivity. Being a (this is grammatically an unacceptable phrase) pilot project with limited resources, this is a difficult factor to implement. There is no way individuals can be moved from a place with convenient and established social amenities to remote areas lacking the same. Furthermore, the new settlement areas need similar social amenities. These include accessible health centers, security, learning institutions and shopping centers among other public goods. This calls for either a provisional budget to carter for these needs or mobilization of volunteers to network, or encourage some of the professionals in various areas of interest to form a sister program that will complement our initiative.

As volunteers move out of the urban centers, the project needs to generate funds to sustain their minimum and basic requirements in the short-run. This effort should cover their subsistence as they wait for their first harvest in various agricultural assignments. The project aims at making available assorted seeds and seedlings for a variety of drought-resistant crops for the volunteer farmers. This initiative needs donors and sponsors that would ensure the main projects are not interfered with budget-wise.

The project is a national initiative that will need the political input of various stakeholders. Regulations and statutes have to be established in governing the management of resources applied in the process. The government is expected to be a major contributor because the process affects the welfare of its citizens. Various professionals and experts in natural resource management within the government should be allowed to work on the project to reduce the salary and wage implications on the budget. Can the government afford to take these steps? How do you convince them, how much will it cost, and how many years? People who moved into the urban center may be totally unwilling to move back out again. How do you make sure you get enough to make these steps feasible? What will you do if you can’t get enough “volunteers?”

Conclusion

Fighting the desert is not a short term project and any meantime (?) solutions must be considered to range between ten to twenty years. This is because the fight is with the environment and such time only takes (?) to initiate well-grounded initiatives. However, effectively the applied efforts work, long term and lasting solutions will take generations. Just as the desert takes years to intrude unnoticeably (?), human efforts must be patiently executed. It is true the Chilean government must pass legislation against further deforestation efforts. A suitable policy would be to encourage the Aricans to plant five seedlings of every tree that is felled. (You haven’t mentioned deforestation up until now. Your earlier discussion indicated that it was abandoned farms that were leading to desertification. Where are the trees?) Complementary efforts must include periodic desert drives that see selected groups of individuals travel into remote parts of the desert to plant desert resistant trees as well as replace dried up vegetation. (The question again comes up of the availability of water.) The Chilean government must make use of its extensive transport network and strategic location to attract global investors in the desert reclamation exercises. (What is the benefit to an investor? Why should a non-Chilean company invest in these steps?) Previous exercises in agriculture have flourished in Israel, Egypt and Algeria among other desert prone countries (Liotta, 2010). Industrial emissions have to be controlled with various factories made champions of environmental management initiatives in their areas. Solace should be found in the fact that the arid lands once used to flourish in greenery. As long as Azapa valley (What is this valley? You have been talking only of Arica up to this point?) thrives in perennial farming (?), there is no reason the whole area cannot be productively occupied. The strategy is to lean on voluntary contribution and seek maximum utilization of counter-productive (this adjective means that the result is NOT what you want!) benefits from the main project. I believe the Arican experience will set a precedent that will be globally epitomized (?). The effort needs focus on lifetime achievement rather than the budgetary implications.

References

Eyhorn, F. (2007). Organic farming for sustainable livelihoods in developing countries? The case of cotton in India. Zürich: vdf, Hochsch.-Verl. An der ETH.

Goldstein, N. (2009). Global Warming. New York: Facts On File.

Komoto, K. (2009). Energy from the desert: enormous scale photovoltaic systems: socio-economic, financial, technical and environmental aspects. London; Sterling, VA: Earthscan.

Liotta, P. (2010). Achieving environmental security: ecosystem services and human welfare. Washington, D.C.: IOS Press.

Rau, D. (2006). Chile. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.

Talus, K. (2014). Research Handbook on International Energy Law. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Wang, L. (2008). Membrane and desalination technologies. New York: Humana Press.