The UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment has highlighted that more than 60 percent of the world's ecosystems are in decline or degraded to an extent that we can no longer rely on their services and these include the world's drylands. To obtain serious attention and recognise this significant problem the theme of this year's World Environment Day is "Don't Desert Drylands!"

Deserts and drylands are found in all regions of the globe; they cover more than 41 percent of the Earth and are home to nearly 2 billion people -- one-third of the world's population. Over the last three decades the need for higher agricultural yields to feed the growing world population has exerted increasing pressure on land and water resources. Compared to the 1970s, 2.2 billion more people need to be fed today (UNEP, 2006). So far, food production has kept pace with population growth, but continued expansion means we may need 60 percent more food in the next 30 years. The growing need for agricultural land accounts for 75 percent of the world's deforestation ultimately resulting in land degradation and desertification.

Desertification is defined by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification as "land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities." Land degradation in drylands is defined as the reduction or loss of the biological or economic productivity of drylands. It affects one third of the Earth's surface and more than 1 billion people. Today, the total land area affected by desertification is estimated as between 6 and 12 million square kilometers (UNEP, 2006). The consequence of desertification is colossal. Diminished food production, reduced soil productivity and a decrease in the land's natural resilience, increased downstream flooding, aggravated health problems due to wind-blown dust, including eye infections, respiratory illnesses, mental stress and loss of livelihoods forcing affected people to migrate are some of the results of desertification.

According to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, 15-20 percent of drylands are already degraded. People living in drylands, 90 percent of whom live in developing countries, lag far behind the rest of the world in human well-being and development indicators. In developing countries, infant mortality in drylands averages about 54 children per 1,000 live births, twice as high as in non-dryland areas, and 10 times the infant mortality rate in developed countries. It is quite evident as land degradation takes place, human health, vitality and intelligence go with them.

The degradation of drylands is a global problem, but it is perhaps most acute in Africa and South Asia. The UNEP estimates that the world will lose one-third of its arable lands through desertification by the end of the century. About 1 million hectares in Asia are subject to desertification. Most of the 82 to 92 percent of this Asian soil resource affected by drought, mineral stress, shallow depth, excess water and permafrost is in south and south-east Asia. The countries suffering most from desertification are Bangladesh, China and India.

Though Bangladesh is predominantly a riverine country, northwestern region is threatened by desertification. The ratio of cultivable land to rural population (acre/ person) has decreased in the northwestern region by 23.2 percent as compared to a decreased ratio of 17.2 percent in the whole of the country (GOB-World Bank, 2000). Some geographers and ecologists claim that there is evidence of desertification from the very dry soil conditions in the Madhupur and Barind Tract region (Jabbar, 1982). The vulnerable area includes the greater districts of Rajshahi, Kushtia, northwestern Jessore, Pabna, western Bogra and southern Dinajpur. The area includes the largely monocultural Barind Tract, the fast shrinking (due to human intervention) Chalan Beel wetlands. In fact, several parts of the vulnerable area (western Bogra, Pabna, and Kushtia), the population density is as high as the national average of 1200 persons/ sq. km causing enormous pressure and stress on the fragile ecosystem.

There are multi dimensional causes of desertification in Bangladesh and each being interlinked with the other. The general problem of dry regions with large populations is essentially one of human ecology. Mismanagement of resources has been a prime source of desertification, which is accelerating in many areas. Erratic rainfall results in widely fluctuating production leading to scarcity, which imposes stress on these populations. Between 1960 and 1991, droughts occurred in Bangladesh 19 times. Past droughts have typically affected about 47 percent area of the country and 53 percent of the population (Chowdhury, 1996). Another major problem in Bangladesh is caused by a backflow of salt water into river systems, which cover about 38 percent of the country, where 33 percent of the population lives. Deforestation leading to flooding also causes an increase in the concentration of salts in estuarine and other floodplain areas.

In Bangladesh about 6.0 million hectares of the total geographical land is affected by various forms and degrees of degradation leading to loss of livelihoods. This in turn results in severe regional socio-economic crisis. The poor seldom have a strong political voice, especially the women who often lack essential services, such as health care, agricultural services and education. In a developing country like Bangladesh women account for approximately 62 percent of the agricultural labour force and it is primarily they who process, manage and market food for their families and societies (Khan, 2002). Women living in these dry regions of Bangladesh are ranked among the poorest of the poor. They are given very little power over decision making and ownership of land and livestock as they stay behind principally in the male domain. These women are frequently excluded from participation in land conservation and development projects, from agricultural extension work, and from the overall policy-making process.

Our aim at this point should be to shine a light on all these issues which are leading to the deterioration of our land resources. The crisis of desertification is a concern that we all need to recognise seriously because it is the result of our regional and global action. We need to combat land degradation, develop and strongly implement national environmental strategies which must incorporate issues of land resources as well as poverty alleviation as these two are complementary. The activities must be carried out in a phase by phase mechanism where field oriented activities will aid in strengthening institutional capacities and ultimately enable policy makers in making the right decisions. Community participation, inclusive of women's fervent participation is compulsory.

It is true that desertification is hard to reverse, but the fact remains that it can be prevented. There have been numerous success stories globally where dry land desertification has been reversed. If it is possible in other regions of the globe then it can be possible for our country because in the end, our society will be defined not only by what we create but by what we refuse to destroy. Keeping this in mind let us all be concerned about the future because we will have to spend the rest of our lives there.

Zubaida Akhtar Choudhury is a PhD in Environmental Policy, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge