Desertification, a global environmental risk with serious consequences

Desertification and climatic change are interrelated processes that very severely threaten the ecosystems of dry regions. The nature of the changes induced by the humans in the landscape, their intensity and amplitude, do not have precedents in the history of the humanity. Climatic change and desertification constitute an environmental and human emergency that requires urgent answers from scientists, governments, international organizations and citizens. Desertification is defined as the degradation of dry lands and implies a loss of productivity as well as biological and economic complexity of the ecosystems. Desertification is due, mainly, to climatic variability and unsustainable human activities. The fight against desertification demands a constant effort to understand and adapt the prescriptions of Agenda 21 and the United Nations Convention against Desertification.