Discuss the role of aeolian processes in desertification and land degradation.
Approach · directive: “discuss”
What it asks · Explain how wind erosion, transport and deposition degrade land and spread desert-like conditions, especially in drylands such as western India.
The question has 2 parts — answer each
- Discuss: how wind erosion, transport and deposition degrade land and spread desert-like conditions
- Discuss: the human–wind feedback loop, the qualification that not all aeolian work is harmful, and control measures
Open with · Aeolian processes — erosion, transport and deposition by wind — dominate where vegetation is sparse, soils are dry and loose, and winds are strong.
Cover
- Deflation removes fine, fertile topsoil and organic matter, leaving coarse lag deposits and desert pavements.
- Abrasion by wind-borne sand damages crops, seedlings and structures; dust storms strip soil and harm health.
- Transport by saltation, surface creep and suspension moves sand and dust far beyond the source area.
- Deposition: migrating dunes and sand sheets bury farmland, roads, canals and settlements, as along parts of the Thar.
- Feedback loop: overgrazing, dryland ploughing and fuelwood removal expose soil to wind, which further reduces vegetation.
- Not all harmful: loess deposits can form fertile soils; dunes act as natural reservoirs of moisture in deserts.
- Control: shelterbelts, dune stabilisation, strip cropping, mulching and pasture management.
Close with · Checking wind erosion through vegetation cover is central to India's land-degradation neutrality goals.
Add value (verified)
- India raised its Bonn Challenge pledge to restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 at UNCCD COP14 (2019) — Lok Sabha reply, August 2023. Land Degradation and Desertification — Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Lok Sabha reply (PIB, 10 August 2023) ↗“This pledge to restore of 21 m.ha by 2030 has been increased to 26 mha, during the COP14 to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in 2019”
Question: UPSC's CS (Main) 2026, GS Paper I — paper ↗. Approach: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify) — UPSC publishes no model answers. ·
Model answer · 219 words (UPSC limit 150) · Minimalist IAS
Aeolian processes — erosion, transport and deposition by wind — take over where vegetation is sparse and soils dry and loose, as in the Thar and the drylands of western India.
Wind as a degrader
- Deflation lifts the fine, fertile fraction of topsoil and organic matter, leaving coarse lag deposits and desert pavement; yields fall though the land looks intact.
- Abrasion by wind-borne sand blasts seedlings and crops, and saltation and suspension carry sand and dust far downwind, exporting degradation and harming health.
- Deposition: migrating dunes and sand sheets bury farmland, canals, roads and settlements — the visible face of desertification along the Thar margin.
- Feedback loop: overgrazing, dryland ploughing and fuelwood cutting bare the soil; wind removes it; vegetation cannot return, so desert-like conditions advance.
A qualification
- Not all aeolian work degrades: loess deposits underlie some of the world's most fertile soils, and stabilised dunes store moisture in deserts.
Control
- Shelterbelts, dune stabilisation with grasses and shrubs, strip cropping, mulching and regulated grazing; ISRO's Desertification and Land Degradation Atlas (2021) maps degraded land state-wise for targeting.
- India's pledge to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030 (UNCCD COP14, 2019) turns on checking wind erosion in the drylands.
Wind only completes what the loss of vegetation begins; keeping the ground covered is the cheapest defence against desertification.
Written by Minimalist IAS from facts checked at source (how we verify) — a little fuller than exam length, so every part of the question is covered; in the hall, keep the structure and trim the detail. UPSC publishes no model answers: compare your structure and coverage with this, then write your own.