Desertification has been defined as land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.
Desertification directly affects over 250 million people. It threatens the lives of some 1.2 billion people in 110 countries who are among the world’s poorest and who depend on land for most of their needs.
A third of the Earth’s land surface, or over 4 billion hectares, is threatened by desertification.
Each year, desertification and drought cause an estimated US$ 42 billion in lost agricultural production worldwide. The annual cost of fighting land degradation is estimated at US$ 2.4 billion. Read more