Land degradation is a global phenomenon, with 78 percent of the degrading land taking place in the non-drylands. Degrading the buffer zone of the drylands increases drylands’ vulnerability to degradation. The demand for productive land is high and competition over various land uses is intense. The recent food crises were not accidents and they are not over. But in an increasingly interdependent world, land-related crises will mutate into new global crises.
(the executive secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification)
Luc Gnacadja