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Definition of Desertification
A Brief
Introduction to the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD)
Are the deserts advancing? Despite some rhetoric at times of crisis, the sands are not steadily spreading over neighboring land. Deserts may seem to expand when the rains are poor over a long period, but they usually retreat again with good rainfall.
So, is everything alright? No. Land degradation is continuing and increasing at an alarming pace, seriously eroding the world's precious store of productive land. When it happens in the world's drylands it often creates desert-like conditions and is called "desertification". This process happens piecemeal as different areas of degraded land spread and merge together, rather than through advancing desert.
Is it just an act of God, or the weather? No. Drought is part of the cause of desertification and certainly makes things worse. But essentially it is a man-made problem. It arises from placing too much pressure on the land.
Is it only a problem for the poor in developing countries? No. One billion of the poorest and most marginalised people of the earth - who live in the most vulnerable areas - may be the most severely affected by desertification. But it has other victims too. Some 18 developed countries suffer from desertification. And developed countries as a whole - and more favoured areas of developing countries - are already being affected indirectly as people migrate to them after being unable to live off their degraded. Desertification provides one of the most graphic examples of how poverty anywhere endangers prosperity and sustainability everywhere.
So, what is Desertification? The definition agreed by the world's leaders at the 1992 Earth Summit and adopted by the Convention is: "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities."