ABSTRACT
The Sudano-Sahelian region contains the countries most severely affected by the drought of 1968—1973, which brought the problem of desertification to the attention of the world community. The more obvious demographic response to drought and associated desertification has been migration, and the dryland areas participated fully in rural-urban migration which has accelerated in the region since 1960. Drought, desertification and political upheaval have also resulted in periodic large-scale movements of population within the rural areas. The World Map of Desertification shows a belt of high desertification hazard in the Sahelian zone bordering the Sahara, subject to accelerated wind and water erosion. The chief form of desertification is the deterioration of rainfed croplands due to continuous cropping or shortened fallows. Patterns and processes of desertification in the region generally confirm the prognostications of the 1977 Desertification Map of the World based on desertification hazard. Moderate desertification hazard is confined to the interior steppe of Oran and northern Morocco.
