Desertification in eastern and southern Africa

The term ‘desertification’ was first used by the French forester, Aubreville (1949), in response to his observations while working on the south side of the Sahara that the desert was spreading inexorably southwards into the savannas and forests of West Africa (Goudie 2001). In his work Aubreville described the spread of cultivation resulting in forested regions being transformed into savanna, which in turn resulted in desert-like conditions should their fragility be disregarded (Glantz and Orlovsky 1983).