Combatting desertification:
strategies and solutions

What is desertification?

Desertification is the process by which fertile land becomes degraded and turns into desert, losing the plant life, soil quality, and water it needs to support life. It happens in the world's drylands, the arid and semi-arid regions that are most vulnerable to a combination of drought, poor land management, and changing environmental conditions.

The scale of the problem is growing. According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, more than three-quarters of the world's land became permanently drier in the three decades up to 2020, and drylands now cover 40.6% of the Earth's land surface, up from 37.5% in the previous period. As land dries, it becomes far more vulnerable to the degradation that tips it into desert. It is a slow crisis, but a vast one: the number of people living in drylands has doubled since 1990 to 2.3 billion, close to a third of humanity.

Water dam between mountains of Constanza, Dominican Republic.

Why it matters

When land turns to desert, the effects reach far beyond the soil. Desertification has significant environmental, economic, and social impacts, particularly in developing countries where communities depend heavily on natural resources for survival. Desertification undermines food security, as degraded land produces fewer crops and supports less livestock, and it drains water supplies in regions that can least afford it. For the communities who depend on the land, this can mean deepening poverty, hunger, and in the worst cases, displacement and conflict as people are forced to move in search of fertile ground.

Read more: What are the effects of deforestation?

The environmental toll is just as serious. Desertification strips away vegetation and biodiversity, accelerates soil erosion, and releases carbon stored in soils and plants, while reducing the land's ability to absorb carbon in future. This creates a damaging feedback loop: as the climate grows more unstable, desertification speeds up, and as land degrades, environmental instability worsens. It is a challenge that connects the health of the soil directly to the stability of the climate.

 A group of women transporting drinking water to a village, Africa.

Main causes of desertification

Desertification is driven mainly by human activity, with natural conditions (like drought, heat, and strong winds) making the problem worse.

• Unsustainable farming Overgrazing by livestock strips away the vegetation that holds soil together, while intensive practices such as monoculture and the overuse of fertilisers and pesticides exhaust the soil, leaving it degraded and prone to erosion.

• Deforestation Removing trees and vegetation, whether for timber, fuel, or farmland, leaves soil exposed to wind and water, accelerating the erosion that leads to desertification.

• Land-use change and population pressure As populations grow, rising demand for food, water, and land pushes farming and development into fragile areas and onto marginal soils, driving unsustainable land use.

• Drought and changing environmental conditions Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and more frequent, severe droughts dry out the land and reduce the vegetation cover that protects it. These natural pressures do not usually cause desertification alone, but they sharply accelerate it where land is already under strain.

Read more: What makes Green Earth's reforestation projects unique?

How desertification can be tackled

Desertification is not irreversible. With the right combination of prevention and restoration, degraded land can be brought back to life, and the pressures that cause it can be eased. The most effective approaches work with nature rather than against it.

• Reforestation and afforestation: planting trees and hardy vegetation anchors the soil, reduces erosion, restores fertility, and shields the land from wind and encroaching sand. This is the core of Green Earth's work.

• Sustainable land management: practices such as conservation agriculture, agroforestry, and rotational grazing keep soil healthy and productive while reducing the pressures that degrade it.

• Water conservation: techniques such as rainwater harvesting, drip irrigation, and drought-resistant crops make the most of scarce water and help vegetation take hold in dry conditions.

• Community and policy support: empowering local communities to manage their land, backed by international frameworks such as the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), turns local action into lasting, large-scale change.

Read more: Preventing desertification: Top 5 success stories

Yacare caiman in its river habitat. Ibera Wetlands, Corrientes, Argentina.

Combat desertification with Green Earth

Combatting desertification is central to Green Earth's mission, and nowhere is that clearer than in one of the most recognised environmental disaster zones on Earth: the dried bed of the Aral Sea.

Once the world's fourth-largest lake, the Aral Sea has all but vanished, leaving behind a vast, salt-laden desert that sends toxic dust and sand storms across the region. Through our Greening of the Dried Aral Sea Project in the Kyzylorda Region of Kazakhstan, we are bringing this barren land back to life. The project will plant millions of saxaul trees, a hardy, salt-tolerant species uniquely suited to these harsh conditions, restoring 100,000 hectares of degraded seabed and capturing an estimated 1.6 million tonnes of CO₂. As they grow, the trees stabilise the soil, suppress the salt and dust storms, and rebuild an ecosystem that had been given up as lost.

Read more: From dust to lush: the revitalisation of Lake Aral's banks

Like all our work, the project is built in close partnership with local communities, creating jobs and lasting livelihoods alongside its environmental benefits, and it is verified to leading international standards. It is one example of how Green Earth develops large-scale, high-quality restoration projects around the world. Whether you are a government, a large organisation, a small business, or an individual, we can help you take meaningful steps towards a greener, more abundant future.