ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to make explicit some of the potential political and cultural obstacles to international programs designed to combat desertification. To the United Nations, the problem of definition was resolved when the United Nations Environment Program, the agency within the United Nations system with responsibility for the Conference on Desertification, chose desertification to apply to the process as defined by Rapp. The literature shows that scholars and governments have been dealing with drought-related problems, such as desertification, as well as with drought-related social problems throughout the century. The one aspect of desertification that is common to the other officially designated global problems is the widespread interest that exists among the individual members of the international community. During discussions within the United Nations on desertification, differing views were expressed on the need and on the desirability of a world conference on the subject.
