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Desertification could force some 60 million to migrate from sub-Saharan Africa to Northern Africa and Europe by 2020. More than 250 million people worldwide directly suffer the effects of desertification, and another 1.2 billion in 110 countries are threatened by this degradation of otherwise arable and habitable land -- caused by climate change and by unsustainable land-use practices like overgrazing, deforestation and burning. IPS offers insights into a phenomenon that is undermining development in Africa and around the world, and which requires the immediate attention of the international community and local peoples alike. |
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While in wealthy countries the looming climate crisis is a matter of concern, in Africa, which has hardly contributed to climate change, it is a matter of life and death, writes Wangari Maathai, the 2004 Nobel Peace Laureate, member of Kenya’s Parliament and the founder of the Green Belt Movement. 
As
stated by former Secretary-General of the
United Nations Kofi Annan, "Desertification
is one of the world's most alarming processes
of environmental degradation." Although being
a very "silent" problem, it affects one third
of the earth's surface, putting at risk 1.2
billion people in more than 100 countries
around the world. It is crucial to recognise
that it is not simply an environmental problem,
but has immense economic and social consequences,
writes Hama Arba Diallo, executive secretary
of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
(UNCCD). 
IPS gratefully acknowledges IFAD for its support of the IPS programme
of work in 2006-2007 for communicating about desertification.