339
evident how necessary but also how difficult integrating social, political, ecological,
and economic aspects is—because of their complex interrelations and trade-offs
(Gibberd 2017). Furthermore, in the specific case of drylands, challenges are multiplied by the complexity of well managing the so-called fragile ecosystems, like
deserts, and in the last decades, the situation has been worsened by climate changes.
In many cases even accelerated by anthropogenic factors, desertification actually
holds a significant weight in the framework of global human suffering: it affects
around one-sixth of the world’s population, seven-tenths of all drylands, and onequarter of the total land area of the world, according to the most recent World Atlas
of Desertification (Cherlet et al. 2018).
All phenomena related to this not encouraging picture are interlinked, as well as
the underlying factors, both natural and human. Even within the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development this interdependence of factors has been made evident, by
including them in several goals and targets, rather than locking all in a specific,
separate goal.
Environmental Mainstreaming: Concept and Relevance
for Drylands
Desertification can be defined by the process of land degradation in arid, semi-arid,
and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Land degradation is commonly described as the reduction or loss in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas of the biological or economic
productivity and complexity of rain-fed cropland, irrigated cropland, or range, pasture, forest, and woodlands (Cherlet et al. 2018).
Combating desertification and land degradation includes activities which are part
of the integrated development of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas
for sustainable development; they are aimed at prevention and/or reduction of land
degradation, rehabilitation of partly degraded land, and reclamation of desertified
land, as remarked by UNDP (2008). Land degradation results from a process or
combination of processes, including those arising from human activities and habitation patterns, including soil erosion caused by wind and/or water, deterioration of
the physical, chemical, and biological or economic properties of soil and long-term
loss of natural vegetation. The promotion of processes of sustainable development
is already in itself very complex, in an increasingly globalized world where many of
the factors favoring and disfavoring development have a transversal character and
go beyond local and often national contexts (UNEP 2012). This requires an open,
transversal, and above all interdisciplinary approach. The structuring of the new
global agenda for development, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is
very eloquent in this regard.
Faced with these challenges, also political and technical responses must be
inspired by greater transversality, inclusiveness, and transdisciplinarity. The
19 Governing Drylands Through Environmental Mainstreaming: How to Cope…
evident how necessary but also how difficult integrating social, political, ecological,
and economic aspects is—because of their complex interrelations and trade-offs
(Gibberd 2017). Furthermore, in the specific case of drylands, challenges are multiplied by the complexity of well managing the so-called fragile ecosystems, like
deserts, and in the last decades, the situation has been worsened by climate changes.
In many cases even accelerated by anthropogenic factors, desertification actually
holds a significant weight in the framework of global human suffering: it affects
around one-sixth of the world’s population, seven-tenths of all drylands, and onequarter of the total land area of the world, according to the most recent World Atlas
of Desertification (Cherlet et al. 2018).
All phenomena related to this not encouraging picture are interlinked, as well as
the underlying factors, both natural and human. Even within the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development this interdependence of factors has been made evident, by
including them in several goals and targets, rather than locking all in a specific,
separate goal.
Environmental Mainstreaming: Concept and Relevance
for Drylands
Desertification can be defined by the process of land degradation in arid, semi-arid,
and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities. Land degradation is commonly described as the reduction or loss in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas of the biological or economic
productivity and complexity of rain-fed cropland, irrigated cropland, or range, pasture, forest, and woodlands (Cherlet et al. 2018).
Combating desertification and land degradation includes activities which are part
of the integrated development of land in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas
for sustainable development; they are aimed at prevention and/or reduction of land
degradation, rehabilitation of partly degraded land, and reclamation of desertified
land, as remarked by UNDP (2008). Land degradation results from a process or
combination of processes, including those arising from human activities and habitation patterns, including soil erosion caused by wind and/or water, deterioration of
the physical, chemical, and biological or economic properties of soil and long-term
loss of natural vegetation. The promotion of processes of sustainable development
is already in itself very complex, in an increasingly globalized world where many of
the factors favoring and disfavoring development have a transversal character and
go beyond local and often national contexts (UNEP 2012). This requires an open,
transversal, and above all interdisciplinary approach. The structuring of the new
global agenda for development, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, is
very eloquent in this regard.
Faced with these challenges, also political and technical responses must be
inspired by greater transversality, inclusiveness, and transdisciplinarity. The
19 Governing Drylands Through Environmental Mainstreaming: How to Cope…