The Thar desert is located in the continent of Asia, straddling the borders of India and Pakistan. With an
ever-increasing population of 30 million, it is the most populated hot desert in the world. Due to
population pressures this environment is increasingly under threat.
Challenges.
Development in this hot desert is limited by the extreme climate. Temperatures in the Thar desert can
exceed 50°C in the summer months. As a result, working outside in the heat can be very hard, especially
for farmers and miners. There is a large diurnal temperature range as the temperature drops significantly
at night. This makes development difficult. Also, the extreme temperatures lead to high levels of
evaporation that often cause to water shortages.
Furthermore, the water supply has become a serious issue. As the population has grown and the farming
industry developed, demand for water has increased. Without water, the development of mining,
farming and tourism would not be possible. The hot desert has low annual rainfall (less than 250ml per
year), high rates of evaporation and strong winds. Some water can be obtained by using wells, but the
main form of irrigation is the Indira Gandhi canal. This source of fresh water, completed in 1982, has
revolutionised farming and provides drinking water for many people.
Due to the extreme weather and the presence of vast barren areas with a very limited road network,
accessibility is a challenge. The high temperatures can cause the roads to melt and the strong winds
often blow sand over the roads. As a result, many places are only accessible by camel, which is a
traditional form of transport in the region. The lack of adequate infrastructure limits development as is a
struggle transporting resources both into and out of the desert.
Opportunities.
Despite the hostile conditions, the Thar desert offers a number of opportunities for development. As the
desert region has valuable reserves of minerals, mineral extraction is a key opportunity. Some important
minerals that can be mined there include: gypsum (which is used in making plaster) and phospherite
(which is used for making fertiliser). The mining provides many primary jobs for residents of the deserts
and creates an opportunity for trade with other countries.
In recent years, the desert’s beautiful landscapes have made it a popular tourist destination. Half a
million people visit the desert each year. Jaisalmer fort is a tourism hotspot and visiting tourists seek
hotels and guided tours, which provides jobs for the residents. These residents then have more
disposable income to spend on their children’s education, and local goods and services. The people
employed in tourism will also pay more in tax, allowing local councils to spend more on development
projects. Also, there is the social benefit of increased life expectancy as people are able to afford an
improved diet. Unfortunately, the increased demand for water that comes with the tourists is causing the
fort to crumble as it was not built with adequate drainage systems.
The Thar desert is a rich energy source. There are extensive coal and oil reserves and recently there has
been a focus on developing renewable energy. India’s largest wind farm, The Jaisalmer Wind Park, was
constructed in 2001 to harvest wind power. Moreover, with it’s sunny, cloudless skies, the Thar desert
offers ideal conditions for solar power generation. This energy is used to clean water supplies
contaminated with salt.
Commercial farming, which has grown in recent decades, has been made possible by irrigation. The
construction of the Indira Gandhi Canal (which was completed in 1982) has revolutionised farming as
crops such as wheat and cotton now survive in an area that was once arid desert.
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