Deserts, no one's home but a place for all?

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Feb 14, 2002

========= (1) The word "desertification" stands for diminishing or vanishing productivity of agricultural, pastoral and forested lands of the arid, semiarid and dry sub-humid areas of the Earth. Therefore desertification does not result from increasing the extension of existing deserts. It is rather due to the fragility of ecosystem in the arid and semi-arid lands: they represents more than one third of emerged land.

The main causes for desertification are: overgrazing, intensive agriculture, and animal husbandry, deforestation, poverty and social unrest. A more general cause for desertification is the pressure put on poor countries to include them into the world market economy through the cultivation of cash crops. They are usually monocultures requiring a high dose of fertilizer and pesticide inputs, which in turn have adverse physical and chemical impact on soil structure and cause the loss of the main nutrients of the soil.

Definition source: http://www.eurplace.org/diba/coopera/ind...

(2)The author thanks Jared R. McKinley (of the Suite101) for his insightful comments on this early draft. Also thanks to Del Albright at Allexperts.com who pointed out some further aspects regarding issues of concern.

(3) Survival in the Sahel - An ecological and developmental challenge Edited by Klaus M. Leisinger and Karin Schmitt and the International Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR)

- Key Problems and Challenges Facing Sustainable Development of the Fragile Lands OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA are explored in: INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON STRATEGIES FOR POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND SUSTAINABLE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN THE FRAGILE LANDS OF SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Anna Knox McCulloch, Suresh Babu and Tidiane Ngaido EPTD WORKSHOP SUMMARY PAPER NO. 7 (IFPRI) Washington, D.C. 1998 http://www.ifpri.org/divs/eptd/ws/papers...

(4) Workshop on "Combating Desertification: Connecting Science with Community Action" convened in Tucson, Arizona, USA from 12-16 May 1997.