Essay Outline – Opinion essay Name:Niroj Dhakal

Using dot points, expand on this essay plan by adding details about your own opinion and
examples that you might use.

‘Many of the world’s land ecosystems are being damaged by human activity, this includes the
reduction in soil fertility which has led to desertification.’

To what extent to you agree or disagree, discuss?

Opinion: agree/disagree

Introduction:

- Human activities have destroyed the ecosystem of lands and it results to the degradation of
the quality of soil fertility so, this has become a major reason for desertification
- Urbanization had led to a common problem in today’s world which includes the damage of
ecosystems which leads to desertification
- Soil fertility represents the ability of the soil for the growth of plants which helps plants to
grow and results into a sustainable and yields of higher quality. (FAO 2016)
- Desertification is a process of degradation of lands which is caused by natural process or a
human activity where a fertile land becomes more sterile.( Rafferty, John P & Pimm, Stuart L.
2019)
- The way people use the land can degrade the nutrients in the soil and also adds pollution to it.
- Desertification is one of the ten most faced problem in today’s ecosystem.(Zhao, etal., 2019)

Select one of these structures for your essay

Structure A Structure B

Main body 1: Main Body 1:

- Agree because soil is a fundamental
requirement for plants and most of the
nutrients so, the reduction of fertility
can lead to major problems in
ecosystem as it takes more than 100
years for soil to come in their natural
state once it has been degraded
- In order to have good plants growth and
production, the proper amount of
Discussion of argument ‘agree’ (topic sentence)
Explain in detail (supporting sentences)
Give an example to support the opinion
Main body 2:
Discussion of argument ‘disagree’ (topic
sentence)
Explain in detail (supporting sentences)
Give an example to support the opinion
 nutrients and water has to be supplied to Main body 3:
the plants without toxic substances. Discussion of which you believe is the most
Heckman (2019 p.5) found that convincing and why
‘Building soil fertility, a foundational
principle of organic farming, would
benefit from having numerous small
pasture-based dairies…’ Most of our
daily needs are fulfilled through the use
of fertile lands such as daily products
like rice, grains, milk, fruits, barleys,
wheats, corns ,vegetables etc. and that
has a direct impact on the economy of
the nation as well.

Main Body 2:

- Healthy soil leads to the cleanliness of

the environment decreasing erosions,
air pollution and recycling waste
materials.

- The brown clumsy materials inside the

earth protect us from the erosion and
works as a recycler for converting waste
materials into newer things
- Soil is best known for filtering water
and best natural recycler which helps to
keep our environment clean.
- The waste materials for humans can be
a yield for the farmers.

- With a population estimated to become

9 billion by 2050, the increment in the
fertile land is a must, for the production
challenge and also for the environment.
(Dongli She, Xiaoqin Sun, Agbna H. D.
Gamareldawla, Elshaikh A. Nazar, Wei
Hu, Khaembah Edith & Shuang’en Yu
2018)

Conclusion:

- The start of a new era with major population growth leading towards urbanization has now
created a new challenge to the nature as the degradation of fertile soil is to its optimum level
with just 3% total land fertile
 - Soil being a fundamental unit of our food has now faced a problem of desertification due to
human activities and this might result into scarce of food products and consequently damage
ecosystems.
- In order to save yourself we have to think about the foundation of our human body itself..

References

Heckman, JR 2019, ‘Securing fresh food from fertile soil, challenges to the organic and raw milk
movements’, Renewable Agriculture & Food Systems, vol. 34, no. 5, pp. 472–485, viewed 10 April
2020, <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eih&AN=138296343&site=eds-live>.

Thomas, RJ, Akhtar-Schuster, M, Stringer, LC, Marques, MJ, Escadafal, R, Abraham, E & Enne, G
2012, ‘Fertile ground? Options for a science–policy platform for land’, Environmental Science &
Policy, vol. 16, pp. 122–135, viewed 10 April 2020, <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=eih&AN=70874849&site=eds-live>.

Dongli She, Xiaoqin Sun, Agbna H. D. Gamareldawla, Elshaikh A. Nazar, Wei Hu, Khaembah Edith
& Shuang’en Yu 2018, ‘Benefits of soil biochar amendments to tomato growth under saline water
irrigation’, Scientific Reports, no. 1, p. 1, viewed 10 April 2020,
<http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=edsdoj&AN=edsdoj.feb67f6e3ce44d9683914bb10d9218da&site=eds-live>.