Background
Desertification is a global issue, with serious implications for worldwide eco-safety, poverty eradication, socio-economic stability and sustainable development.
Poor people living in dry land areas have to contend with multiple challenges of income loss, food insecurity, weakening health and insecure land tenure systems. They are often forced to migrate to areas not affected by desertification in the search for a better life.
The increased frequency and severity of droughts resulting from projected climate change is likely to further exacerbate desertification.
Facts and figures
According to a UNEP report, some 2 billion people depend on ecosystems in dry land areas, 90% of whom live in developing countries.
Worldwide, more than 30% of the total land area is dry land.
About 30% of dry lands are degraded, with particular susceptibility to desertification.
Globally, 20,000 to 50,000 square kilometres are lost annually through land degradation
Across Africa, dry lands vulnerable to, or affected by, desertification occupy about 43% of the region.
Two thirds of arable land is expected to be lost in Africa by 2025.
Land degradation currently leads to the loss of 3% of agriculture gross domestic product annually in sub-Saharan Africa.
More than half of the cultivated agricultural area in Africa could be unusable by the year 2050 and the region may be able to feed just 25% of its population by 2025.