The process of desertification does not have climate boundaries Justify with examples UPSC 2020 question general studies 1
Desertification is land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, collectively known as drylands, resulting from many factors, including human activities and climatic variations.
As global temperatures rise and the human population expands, more of the planet is vulnerable to desertification, the permanent degradation of land that was once arable. The risk of desertification is widespread and spans more than 100 countries, hitting some of the poorest and most vulnerable populations the hardest, since subsistence farming is common across many of the affected regions.
The multiplicity and complexity of the processes of desertification make its quantification difficult. The highest numbers of people affected are in South and East Asia, the circum Sahara region including North Africa, and the Middle East including the Arabian Peninsula.
More than 75 percent of Earth’s land area is already degraded, according to the European Commission’s World Atlas of Desertification, and more than 90 percent could become degraded by 2050. The prospect of climate change and warmer average temperatures could amplify these effects.