This document is a response to the request of the Inter-Governmental Negotiating Committee for a Convention to Combat Desertification; it analyses the cause, general extent and consequences of land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas of the world.
In a first section, some definitions pertinent to land and water resources degradation are given to provide a basic platform of understanding to the document. A second section discusses the components and processes of land degradation and its recovery highlighting the composite nature of land degradation and desertification. The third section of the document introduces and discusses the major degradation processes affecting rainfed and irrigated arable lands, grasslands and woodlands. The underlying and fundamental message is the anthrofic origin of desertification related processes and the importance of issues relating to poverty, food security and landlessness.
The fourth section elaborates rapidly on some strategic elements stressing the fact that combating desertification should be envisaged in an integrated approach to Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development and that knowledge and solutions exist where populations ale thoroughly involved and timely action envisaged.