Desertification threatens the future of developing countries

Abstract

Arid, semi-arid and some semi-rainy regions are exposed to serious environmental degradation that leads to an increased frequency of drought periods and activates desertification factors as a result of the convergence of population growth effects with unfavorable climatic conditions. Desertification does not mean desert encroachment where the desert borders advance in fronts or waves of sand towards agricultural lands, pastures, and forests. Rather, it refers to the severe erosion of fertile lands, making their appearance indistinguishable from a real desert, where rocky and sandy areas and salt flats appear even in places far from the desert borders themselves.
Accordingly, desertification is a phenomenon not limited to arid and semi-arid regions only, but occurs anywhere that is subjected to exploitation, regardless of proximity to or distance from the true desert borders.
According to reports from the International Development Agency, the Sahel regions, for example, added 650,000 km2 of land to the Sahara Desert during the period from the mid-1930s to the mid-1970s of this century.