desertification

Efforts to stop desertification—the process by which fertile land becomes desert—have been primarily focused on expensive manual solutions.

At his office, he showed me a series of maps that document China’s elevation, watersheds, flood paths, biodiversity, desertification, ecological security, soil erosion, and cultural heritage.

Impacts of climate change fueled in part by Soviet industrial development are already visible around Russia, from permafrost degradation to desertification in the agriculture-heavy southern reaches of the country.

After the separation of South Sudan, a third of the country is a desert right now, and desertification is moving very fast.

Deeper root systems bolstered soil health, and expanded tree cover cut down on wind and water erosion, halting desertification.

The Sahel has been degraded by human use, not natural desertification; the natural process has been the reverse.

So why do we invariably connect higher temperatures with droughts and desertification?

The presence of a nearby desert has no direct relationship to desertification.

Desertification does not occur in linear, easily mappable patterns.

Desertification may intensify a general climatic trend toward greater aridity, or it may initiate a change in local climate.

This degradation of formerly productive land—desertification—is a complex process.

Unfortunately, an area undergoing desertification is brought to public attention only after the process is well underway.