Desertficiation and Land Degradation: an Alarming Plague

• The process of land degradation which mainly affects arid land, hits approximately 2 billion people and one third of the land surface representing 5 billion hectares.
• The African continent is the most seriously affected with 37% of arid areas and nearly half of its population (325 million people). Asia and Australia embrace respectively 33% and 14%. 
• The link between poverty and land degradation has been recognized during the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 2002. The geography of poverty coincides with that of drought, desertification and land degradation. 
• Desertification and food security are intrinsically linked. The livelihoods of more than 1 billion people in some 110 countries are threatened  by land degradation. 135 million people may have to abandon their land.
• Farmers are among the first victims of the phenomenon of desertification as natural resources are the most severely affected by this plague. Approximately 70% of the 5.2 billion hectares of agricultural arid land is degraded.