Within the project “Morphodynamic Processes and Desertification” of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, research has been carried out on the desertification of the Butana region in the Sahel of the Rep. of Sudan. The abolition of traditional rights of land use, with the resulting disorganized utilization of grazing lands and the self-generated sedentarization of many formerly nomadic groups, has led to a rapid desertification of the Butana, which was further accelerated by the droughts of the eighties. The combination of substratum and climatic conditions has diversified the extent of site degradation, with an accelerated development of dunes and badlands taking place due to severe vegetation transformation in areas with permanent water supply or with sandy soils.