Desert Development: How Does It Relate to Anti Desertification Measures? - Combating Desertification in Asia, Africa and the Middle East - page 409

Chapter 20
Desert Development: How Does It Relate
to Anti Desertification Measures?

Victor R. Squires

Synopsis An examination of the relationship between desert control and
desertification with an explanation of the confusion that has arisen from the
similarity of the words.

Key Points

• Partly the desire to tame the desert is fuelled by the notion that 'man is dominant

over nature' but interest in the subject is driven by the growing pressure of
human population, the diminishing resource base and the widespread poverty
that is a feature of many desert regions. Even in desert areas where there is
no permanent habitation, protection of the infrastructure, pipelines, electricity
transmission lines, railways, and highways dictate that measures need be taken
to tame the desert.

• It is now widely accepted that desertification is not the relentless advance of

desert but rather the development of land degradation in discrete sites, that can
coalesce and spread but the threat of desert encroachment is real on the desert
margins.

• The driving forces for the different environmental problems in Asia (as well as

in the rest of the world) are fundamentally related to human population growth
which increases the use of natural resources and production of wastes. Rapid
population growth has contributed to the destruction of natural habits, wide-
spread land conversion, and increased intensities of land use, further resulting
in a series of problems of ecosystem degradation including desertification,
salinization and alkalization, water-logging, and air and water pollution.