By Mary-Lee Nolan
Global warming is affecting the severity of droughts in semi-arid and sub-humid regions such as Africa, Asia, and North America and causing these regions to now face a high risk of desertification. This program explains desertification as a process that changes the landscape and resource potential of semi-arid or sub-humid areas, transforming landscape so that it eventually approximates the barrenness of a true desert.
Emphasizing the near irreversibility of desertification and focusing on the kinds of land use practices that intensify this process, this film illustrates each specific stage in the desertification process. Clear and concise at every stage of its explanation, this program concludes with a discussion of the human consequences of desertification and cautions against short term technological "fixes" that lack foresight and understanding of desert ecology.
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