Land Degradation, Desertification and Drought
Drought is one of the major weather-related disasters worldwide. Persisting over months or years, droughts affect large areas and have serious environmental, social and economic impacts. While problems of drought occur in all climatic zones, land degradation and desertification are particularly evident in drylands. The global importance of the problem is highlighted by the fact that drylands cover about 41% of the Earth’s surface and that they are home to about one third of the world population.
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to date has been signed by 193 parties, including the European Commission. Under the UNCCD the term desertification is defined as
"land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities".
This definition highlights both the climatic and the socio-economic causes of desertification. Desertification to a large degree is indeed caused by inadequate and unsustainable land use under adverse climatic conditions, which all too often is linked to poverty and the lack of alternatives for subsistence.
The problem is recognized as global, but the term desertification still heavily inspires on the specific African situation where 57% of the continent is classified as semiarid (17.3%), arid (17%) and hyperarid (22.7%). These regions are home to about 33% of the African population facing particular subsistence challenges.At the JRC, the problems related to desertification, land degradation and drought are at the focus of the DESERT Action, which is engaged to join forces with the international scientific community in order to provide scientific support and tools for the formulation and implementation of policies related to drought and desertification
The current activities focus on Africa, expanding on different aspects of indicators and elaborating options for assessing desertification through alternative ways for integrating relevant information. Furthermore the Action looks at the development of new and innovative approaches for mapping and assessing desertification processes as a contribution to a new Atlas on Desertification.
Further information on the JRC drought and desertification activities is to be found at: http://desert.jrc.it
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