The Scientific Basis: Links between Land Degradation, Drought and Desertification

While concerns about desiccation and environmental deterioration in the world’s drylands date back to colonial times in West Africa and the massive soil erosion during the 1930s that became known as the ‘Dust Bowl’ in the American Great Plains, more systematic scientific inquiry into dryland environments only began with the establishment in 1951 of the Arid Zone Research Programme of the United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).1 That makes dryland research a relatively young field in science and a frontier of knowledge.