The End of Desertification?

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

   PDF

2. Introduction: The End of Desertification?

   • Roy Behnke, Michael Mortimore

   Pages 1-34

3. Lessons from the Sahel

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 35-35

      PDF

   2. Desertification in the Sahel: Local Practice Meets Global Narrative

      • Camilla Toulmin, Karen Brock

      Pages 37-63

   3. Changing Paradigms for People-Centred Development in the Sahel

      • Michael Mortimore

      Pages 65-98

   4. Does Climate Change Lead to Conflicts in the Sahel?

      • Tor A. Benjaminsen

      Pages 99-116

   5. The Map Is not the Territory: How Satellite Remote Sensing and Ground Evidence Have Re-shaped the Image of Sahelian Desertification

      • Stefanie M. Herrmann, Tene Kwetche Sop

      Pages 117-145

   6. Desertification, Adaptation and Resilience in the Sahel: Lessons from Long Term Monitoring of Agro-ecosystems

      • Pierre Hiernaux, Cecile Dardel, Laurent Kergoat, Eric Mougin

      Pages 147-178

   7. Land and Natural Resource Governance: Development Issues and Anti-Desertification Initiatives in Niger

      • Yamba Boubacar

      Pages 179-200

4. Global Issues

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 201-201

      PDF

   2. Deserts and Drylands Before the Age of Desertification

      • Diana K. Davis

      Pages 203-223

   3. Where Does Desertification Occur? Mapping Dryland Degradation at Regional to Global Scales

      • Stephen D. Prince

      Pages 225-263

   4. 40 Years of Climate Modeling: The Causes of Late-20th Century Drought in the Sahel

      • Alessandra Giannini

      Pages 265-291

   5. The Tragedy of the Common Narrative: Re-telling Degradation in the American West

      • Lynn Huntsinger

      Pages 293-323

5. Regional and Country Case Studies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 325-325

      PDF

   2. Pastoral System Dynamics and Environmental Change on Ethiopia’s North-Central Borana Plateau—Influences of Livestock Development and Policy

      • D. Layne Coppock

      Pages 327-362

   3. Humans Cause Deserts: Evidence of Irreversible Changes in Argentinian Patagonia Rangelands

      • Gabriel Oliva, Juan Gaitan, Daniela Ferrante

      Pages 363-386

   4. Interpreting Environmental Changes in the Southern Bolivian Andes: Rural Responses and Political Actions

      • David Preston

      Pages 387-406

   5. Media Perceptions and Portrayals of Pastoralists in Kenya, India and China

      • Mike Shanahan

      Pages 407-425

   6. Much More than Simply “Desertification”: Understanding Agricultural Sustainability and Change in the Mediterranean

      • Mark Mulligan, Sophia Burke, Andrew Ogilvie

      Pages 427-450

The question in the title of this book draws attention to the shortcomings of a concept that has become a political tool of global importance even as the scientific basis for its use grows weaker. The concept of desertification, it can be argued, has ceased to be analytically useful and distorts our understanding of social-environmental systems and their resiliency, particularly in poor countries with variable rainfall and persistent poverty. For better policy and governance, we need to reconsider the scientific justification for international attempts to combat desertification. 


Our exploration of these issues begins in the Sahel of West Africa, where a series of severe droughts at the end of the 20th century led to the global institutionalization of the idea of desertification.  It now seems incontrovertible that these droughts were not caused primarily by local land use mismanagement, effectively terminating a long-standing policy and scientific debate. There is now an opportunity to treat this episode as an object lesson in the relationship between science, the formation of public opinion and international policy-making. 


Looking beyond the Sahel, the chapters in this book provide case studies from around the world that examine the use and relevance of the desertification concept. Despite an increasingly sophisticated understanding of dryland environments and societies, the uses now being made of the desertification concept in parts of Asia exhibit many of the shortcomings of earlier work done in Africa. It took scientists more than three decades to transform a perceived desertification crisis in the Sahel into a non-event. This book is an effort to critically examine that experience and accelerate the learning process in other parts of the world.

• Climate change
• Desertification
• Environmental impacts of drought
• Rangeland management
• Sahelian drought
• Semi-arid landscapes
• climate change impacts

“This book provides a comprehensive, updated, and critical overview of the concept of desertification. It is very useful in understanding the natural science on the subject, but equally valuable for grasping the larger sociopolitical nexus. … these chapters are quite consensual with regards to policy recommendations – empowering people in drylands, marrying science with local knowledge and institutions, ensuring mobility and market access … finally acknowledging that change is here to stay and that positive adjustment is more useful than resistance.” (Ole Magnus Theisen, Journal of Peace Research, August 22, 2016)

• Great Wolford, Odessa Centre, Shipstpon-on-Stour, United Kingdom

  Roy Behnke

• Drylands Research, Milborne Port, United Kingdom

  Michael Mortimore

Policies and ethics