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• n  the gradual transformation of habitable land into desert; is usually caused by climate change or by destructive use of the land
  the dust storms in Korea are the result of rapid desertification in China

• Mexico's government estimates that some 900,000 people a year are forced off the land by desertification, as erosion and overuse of fields renders them unfit for farming.
• Add a plentiful helping of dust storms (from, for instance, the desertification of Mongolia or northern Africa) and a rise in drought-driven brushfires, and you have a made- to .
• The World Bank estimates that fallout from pollution--whether medical costs from respiratory diseases or farms forced fallow by desertification--eats up 8% of China's economic .

News & Articles

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• UN-Backed Plan To Combat Central Asian Desertification Won't Hold Water
  Copyright show:  Hide copyrights When the United Nations considers the problem of desertification, Central Asia is a logical place to focus. The region is home to large deserts, has one of the earth's driest climates, and has been subject to increased human pressures in recent decades that have exacerbated its already harsh conditions. read more
  June 17, 2013 - EurasiaNet
• Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
  With the rallying call “Don’t let our future dry up”, this year’s World Day to Combat Desertification is dedicated to highlighting the global risks of drought and water scarcity. The social, political and economic costs of drought are evident from Uzbekistan to Brazil, from the Sahel to Australia.
  June 17, 2013 - United Nations

Quotes

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• Cristina Narbona in The Australian
  Spanish Environment Minister Cristina Narbona said desertification has already "led to the movement of millions of persons who are fleeing countries that are increasingly affected by desertification and thus by poverty".
• Ban Ki-moon in AFP
  You are part of the one third of the world's population -- two billion people -- who are potential victims of desertification,Ban told the landlocked country's parliament, in a speech on overcoming the challenge of climate change.
• Kofi Annan in Boston Globe
  Across the planet, poverty, unsustainable land management and climate change are turning drylands into deserts, and desertification in turn exacerbates and leads to poverty,UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement. "There is...