Abstract
AbstractAmong policy institutions, researchers in other fields, and the public, there is an enduring misunderstanding of the nature of desertification. To a considerable extent, its meaning has been reduced to just two eye‐catching images: sand dunes encroaching on productive land and habitations and bare, cracked soil surfaces. Yet neither of these is an indicator of desertification—sometimes called dryland degradation. Rather desertification results in a wide range of changes, including erosion, loss of biodiversity, decline in soil fertility, and reduced carbon storage. Surprisingly, it is the pictures themselves, not the scientific literature, that have fixed this erroneous concept in the minds of even some who work in the field of land degradation. The results of this confusion include inappropriate management efforts, mistaken premises in research, and ill‐informed policies at local to global scales including misleading prognostications of institutions—even at the level of United Nations agencies.
Highlights
In the light of the recent publication of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment (IPBES LDR, 2018) and others including “The Global Land Outlook” (UNCCD, 2017), the third edition of the World Atlas of Desertification (Cherlet et al, 2018) and the UN Statistical Commission Sustainable Degradation Goals (SDG) indicator framework (United Nations, 2015), this is an opportune time to draw attention to a persistent misunderstanding of the nature and perceptions of desertification
The concept of desertification is frequently articulated by eye‐catching images of just two land cover types: spreading sand dunes and cracked soil surfaces, but neither of these are caused by anthropogenic dryland degradation
Encroaching on productive land and buildings (Figure 1a–c) and apparently unproductive, bare soil with cracked surfaces (Figure 1d–f). Neither of these is a consequence of desertification as defined in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD, Article 1f, 1994)—“‘land degradation’ means ... processes arising from human activities and habitation patterns, such as ... soil erosion caused by wind and/or water; deterioration of the physical, chemical and biological or economic properties of soil [and] long‐term loss of natural vegetation” (United Nations, 1994; Vogt et al, 2011)
Summary
In the light of the recent publication of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment (IPBES LDR, 2018) and others including “The Global Land Outlook” (UNCCD, 2017), the third edition of the World Atlas of Desertification (Cherlet et al, 2018) and the UN Statistical Commission Sustainable Degradation Goals (SDG) indicator framework (United Nations, 2015), this is an opportune time to draw attention to a persistent misunderstanding of the nature and perceptions of desertification. The concept of desertification is frequently articulated by eye‐catching images of just two land cover types: spreading sand dunes and cracked soil surfaces, but neither of these are caused by anthropogenic dryland degradation.
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