The creeping disease that threatens populations
Publication year
Resource type
UNCCD Library
Material Type
news article
For the past 20 years, more and more countries have been affected by desertification – and not just because of climate change. Experts say that some agricultural practices have also had disastrous effects.It’s not the desert on the move but farming land that is slowly disappearing, contrary to what most people believe.
“The mental picture we have is one of a sandy desert and dunes swallowing up villages and fields,” Gudrun Schwilch, a researcher at the University of Bern’s Centre for Development and Environment, told swissinfo.ch. “But in most cases, it’s just not like that.”
According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), desertification is “the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations”. Altogether, these regions represent 40 per cent of the earth’s land surface.
The latest UN data, published in April, shows that desertification has increased substantially over the past two decades. Today, 168 countries are affected, while only 110 were suffering from the problem in the 1990s; around 850 million people are directly concerned.
Desertification, says Schwilch, is the result of a number of factors, including climate change. “But it’s not a natural phenomenon. Its main causes are related to human activities.”
Global problem
Deforestation, intensive farming, overuse of pastures and inadequate irrigation practices have led to a degradation of agricultural land. Erosion due to wind and water, as well as extreme climatic events such as droughts only speed up the process, according to experts.
This results in the depletion of the soil’s nutrients and the disappearance of the arable layer of earth. Each year, around 120,000 square kilometres are lost (around three times Switzerland’s surface): land that could be used to grow 20 million tonnes of cereals, reckons the UN.
The most affected zones are regions where intensive farming is the norm and the effects of climate change are the most felt. “It’s happening in emerging economies such as China and India as well as in the least developed nations in Africa and South America,” says Schwilch.Read further from the source
“The mental picture we have is one of a sandy desert and dunes swallowing up villages and fields,” Gudrun Schwilch, a researcher at the University of Bern’s Centre for Development and Environment, told swissinfo.ch. “But in most cases, it’s just not like that.”
According to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), desertification is “the degradation of land in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas. It is caused primarily by human activities and climatic variations”. Altogether, these regions represent 40 per cent of the earth’s land surface.
The latest UN data, published in April, shows that desertification has increased substantially over the past two decades. Today, 168 countries are affected, while only 110 were suffering from the problem in the 1990s; around 850 million people are directly concerned.
Desertification, says Schwilch, is the result of a number of factors, including climate change. “But it’s not a natural phenomenon. Its main causes are related to human activities.”
Global problem
Deforestation, intensive farming, overuse of pastures and inadequate irrigation practices have led to a degradation of agricultural land. Erosion due to wind and water, as well as extreme climatic events such as droughts only speed up the process, according to experts.
This results in the depletion of the soil’s nutrients and the disappearance of the arable layer of earth. Each year, around 120,000 square kilometres are lost (around three times Switzerland’s surface): land that could be used to grow 20 million tonnes of cereals, reckons the UN.
The most affected zones are regions where intensive farming is the norm and the effects of climate change are the most felt. “It’s happening in emerging economies such as China and India as well as in the least developed nations in Africa and South America,” says Schwilch.Read further from the source
Keywords
desertification
UNCCD
land degradation assessment
awareness-raising
facts and figures
deserts and drylands