ABSTRACT
The concept of desertification is colonial in origin and founded on profound misunderstandings of drylands ecology that were dominant in the late nineteenth centuries. As the science of arid lands ecology has progressed over the last thirty years, it has demonstrated that land degradation is limited in nonequilibrium dryland environments and that conventional estimates of desertification are significantly exaggerated. Degradation has occurred but is limited in area and caused primarily by expanding agriculture in dryland areas, over-irrigation and inappropriate afforestation driven by particular political-economic priorities. New policies informed by contemporary science are needed to obtain environmentally appropriate and socially just outcomes.
