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desertification — English
The loss of an area’s production capacity and ability to support life. Literally, the term means “the making of a desert”. This term became part of everyday vocabulary during the early 1970s when the vast, semi-desert region of Africa directly south of the Sahara desert (known as the Sahel) experienced a number of severely dry years. Although this region normally has a semi-arid character, it had always supported a rural population who cultivated the land or lived a nomadic lifestyle and moved around from one grazing area to another with their small livestock herds. After a few years of abnormally low rainfall, or no rain at all, the entire region was totally stripped of all vegetation (see “deforestation”), completely barren and unable to support the people living there. International aid organisations had to supply food to the people, yet many thousands died of starvation. This tragic event grabbed the attention of people all over the world and the idea of the Sahara desert slowly “creeping” or spreading southwards was born. The misconception that most of the deserts in the world are slowly spreading into the adjacent regions as a result of natural conditions and climate change became commonly accepted. After an extensive international research effort, it was established that desertification is an environmental degradation process created as the result of excessive human activities which cause the decline of the productivity of semi-arid regions and converted them into desert-like landscapes (see “environmental degradation”). In fact, deforestation (see “deforestation”) ultimately results in desertification. It should be mentioned that large tracts of the Sahel have regained their productivity after a number of normal rainfall years and more appropriate grazing and cultivation practices.
