According to the UN, desertification affects 11 million hectares each year in the world, or 20% of France's surface. The World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought is celebrated on 17 June. Desertification, according to the UN, affects 11 million hectares each year in the world, or 20% of the surface of France. This loss would cost about $42 billion a year.

According to a report by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), nearly 40% of the world's land is at risk, or 5.2 billion hectares. Two billion people are affected on all continents except Antarctica.

Desertification is part of our history
It contributes to the collapse of great empires and the displacement of populations. Every year, 11 million hectares of arable land are dried up, the equivalent of 20% of the area of France, or 20 hectares per minute! This degrades the ecosystems on which more than 2 billion people depend, especially in drylands.

The lack of food is forcing people to move, as in sub-Saharan Africa where 60 million people have migrated north in the last 20 years.
Drought, a climatic phenomenon but also an anthropogenic one
Charline Rangé, member of the French Scientific Committee on Desertification (CSFD), explains the desertification process and how the first sedentary civilizations, with the generalization of agriculture and pastures, participated in the drying up of the soil.

Cultivation techniques such as deforestation by eco-burning and burning partly explain the increase in drought. The techniques are similar, the first consists of clearing to allow the plants to dry, which will then be burned to fertilize the land, the second is directly related to burning the vegetation present to free up space on wetlands and fertile lands.

At present, the phenomenon of desertification, which is taking on increasingly dramatic proportions, is seriously threatening agriculture, of which the United Nations this year has made the key word to commemorate this day through the theme: "Combating land degradation for sustainable agriculture".

International aid then has two priorities: increasing the standard of living of the populations concerned and the sustainable management of natural resources. Solutions are multiplying, both locally and internationally.

The greatest advance, the Green Great Wall, the Great Green Wall
It is a project to renew the fauna and flora,which crosses the African Sahel region from East to West for more than 8,000 km long, or almost 100 million hectares, the equivalent of twice the size of France. Once completed, this plant wall would be the largest living structure in the world, three times the size of the Great Barrier Reef.

This initiative was born in 2007, with the planting of thousands of trees, but also plants, and the rehabilitation of water areas. Since then, some areas, particularly in Mali, have benefited from a renewal of degraded biodiversity and have regained food security.