What is Desertification?

Desertification (or land degradation) is loss of biological or economic productivity due to land use (e.g. grazing) or from human activities and habitation patterns. Examples include soil erosion by wind or water; and long term loss of the natural vegetation and biodiversity. In rangelands, desertification may also involve an increase in unpalatable species (for cattle) and a decrease in palatable species. A particular problem in some areas is the replacement of palatable forage by inedible woody species ("woody weeds").

Desertification assessment is particularly difficult in the rangelands because of the need to separate change caused by grazing animals from that due to natural variation in  climate.

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