Processes and Consequences of Desertification

The concept of ‘desertification’ is credited to Aubreville (1949), who used it to describe the change of productive land into desert as a result of man’s activity in the tropical forest zone of Africa. Global attention was drawn to the desertification concept when a series of droughts began in the late 1960s in several Sahelian countries. The United Nations Conference on Desertification, held in Nairobi in 1977,not only launched the desertification issue into the political arena but also triggered a great deal of scientific interest and controversy. Desertification was defined at UNCCD (1994),as ‘Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic and human activities’. desertification should be considerd as a phenomenon which strongly threatens the environment and our economic life.