Desertification: Environmental Degradation in and Around Arid Lands will be useful to those who seek an understanding of desertification. This book is a collection of works by several authors. The editor begins with an examination of the attention that the United Nations has paid to the global problem of desertification. Glantz offers definitions of desertification and discusses the cyclic nature of interest in this global problem. The second chapter is concerned with the nature and causes of desertification.

The author addresses the question, "Is desertization irreversible?". Overpopulation is cited as one underlying cause of desertification, the auhtor examines and evaluates proposals to create large inland seas which would cover 10% of Africa and provide the atmosphere with moisture which would then cycle in rainfall and evaporation. Desertification: environmental degradation in and around arid lands is an examination of desertification at a global scale with clear implications for decision-making at the local level.