The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is a United Nations observance each June 17. The purpose of this is to raise awareness of the existence of desertification and drought, highlighting methods of preventing land degradation and recovering from drought.
Although most deserts, such as the Sahara in North Africa and the deserts of the southwestern US, Mexico, and Australia, occur at low latitudes, another kind of desert, cold deserts, occur in the basin and range area of Utah and Nevada and in parts of western Asia.

Despite being an integral part of Earth's landscape, deserts are slowly increasing due to irrational human actions and global warming, leading to land degradation.
Check out Sputnik's gallery of the most striking examples of the human impact on nature and the most beautiful photos of the terrifying power of the desert. See all photos following the link above