Desertification and Environmental Vulnerability. Preface

The term “desertification” (which is somewhat misleading) is not applied to hyper-arid zones (deserts). It is used rather to refer to a process resulting from anthropocentric and natural factors, such as land over-exploitation, overgrazing, mechanized farming, bad irrigation practices, illegal and excessive logging, bush and forest fires and deforestation due to population increase; along with these human activities, a range of climatic factors are believed to influence the process of land degradation (year-round aridity, high variability in rainfall, recurrent drought and so on). Due to these multiple causes, combatting desertification involves a wide range of measures and contributes to combatting poverty, to structural reforms and to sustainable development. The official definition of “desertification” was formulated during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), as: “land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities”. (Art. 1, available at http://www.unccd.int).........