Societal Vulnerability to Desertification and Policy Response Options

Abstract

Desertification -- land degradation and loss of productivity in drylands resulting from human and climatic factors -- is one of the greatest global challenges of our times, and correlates directly to poverty, food insecurity and degradation of human well-being. Desertification directly results in biodiversity changes and a decline in soil fertility, water availability and plant cover, which indirectly affect the livelihoods of dryland populations. Conservative figures estimate the extent of the desertified area ranging from 10 to 20 per cent of all drylands, while a much larger area remains at risk.1 Measurement of a persistent reduction in the capacity of ecosystems to supply services provides a robust and operational way to quantify land degradation, and thus desertification. Such a quantification approach is robust because these services can be monitored, and some of them are monitored routinely.