Desertification is the process by which vegetation disappears from an ecosystem, leaving dry desert in its place. As such, desertification aggravates existing economic, social, and environmental problems like poverty, poor health, lack of food security, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, forced migration, and lowered resilience to the climate emergency or disasters.​

Desertification poses a serious challenge to sustainable development and humanity’s ability to survive in many areas of the world, with people living in already degraded or desertified areas increasingly negatively impacted by the climate emergency.​

Humanity needs healthy land. Yet the mounting losses of such landscapes – driven by human action and the climate emergency – have the potential to change the way billions of people will live, now over the next few decades.​

As the global population increases, ever-larger areas are devoted to intensive agriculture. Excessive irrigation erodes precious soil and depletes aquifers, especially in areas that are already arid. Managing water and land as living systems by carefully cultivating trees and green plant cover can help to reduce and even reverse desertification. Preventing companies from wasting, polluting and mismanaging water, or using more than their fair share, is also essential.

Every player loses 1 Ecological Resilience.

If this Crisis was face up during the Local stage and players tucked cards under it, this effect can be ignored by as many players as there are cards tucked under this card.

• Summary for Policymakers — Special Report on Climate Change and Land (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC)

• Desertification (UN Convention to Combat Desertification, UNCCD) 

• Blue Lifelines for a Secure Sahel (BLiSS) (Wetlands International) 

• Advocate for your government to protect wetlands - the ‘blue lifelines’ we need to fight desertification - and install natural flood risk management systems that help maintain healthy waterways.

• Campaign against the loss of trees and plant cover, which hold soil and conserve moisture.

• Look into whether there is a plan for managing water in your area, and ask your local water utilities company or government if it takes into account the impacts of the climate emergency.