The role of research in combating desertification and in the development of arid zones * .

Abstract

The tragedy of recurring drought in the Sahel has served as a warning of the grave consequences of mankind's increasingly destructive pressures on the world's marginal areas. What is not so generally realized is that more than a third of the world's land surface is classed as ‘arid’ or ‘semi-arid’, and much of this is subject to such pressures. Research-based new technology is vital to any programme for the containment and eventual rehabilitation of the areas at risk.