Global Environmental Changes, Desertification and Sustainability

The book considers desertification as a cause-effect of environmental degradation that causes global environmental changes and the current climate crisis. Desertification affects sustainability and is one of the most severe socio-environmental problems on a global, regional, and local scale and in magnitude.


It is a complex and interdisciplinary phenomenon with socioeconomic, historical, and ecological aspects. The book dealt with themes such as “Anthropocene and limits of balance on Earth; Global Environmental Changes, Climate Crisis; Desertification: concepts, myths, and reality; Causes and impacts in the world,” considering international technical-scientific assumptions guided by historical, practical, and conceptual issues.


Currently, desertification (land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and sub-humid regions, resulting from various factors, such as climate variations and human activities) occurs in different continents and associates with land use and environmental and climate changes. This is a question of interest to the political management of the territory.


The compendium goes beyond the conceptual approach and brings case studies with depth and a holistic view. Watersheds, for example, were treated as synthesis cells of environmental assessments and territorial units to develop public policies to manage natural resources and mitigate soil salinization and geochemical contamination.


Besides the correlation between desertification and climate as a natural design, its harmful consequences for the planet are correlated with the most affected areas associated with poverty, environmental conflicts, and land tenure. The book considers several studies and a wealth of qualitative and quantitative data, pointing out about 3.6 billion hectares affected and more than 2.6 billion people affected worldwide.


Desertification areas demand priority attention and greater scientific clarification not contaminated by other interests, surpassing the boundaries of sectorial and empirical explanation and not dissociated from natural x human processes. The book proposes to be holistic with an assessment of the totality!

Flavio Rodrigues do Nascimento holds Doctor of Geography and is Professor of Graduate Programs in Geography of Federal University of Ceará and Federal University Fluminense. He is Coordinator of National Program for Academic Cooperation in the Amazon. He is also Researcher and Ad hoc Consultant in projects with National Institute of Space Research/Brazil and Ministries of Science and Technology and the Environment and Researcher at the Water Centre for Arid and Semi-Arid Zones of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAZALAC), the Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean (IHP-LAC), and the G-WADI-LAC Network (Global Network for Water and Information Development in The Drylands, regional segment in Latin America and the Caribbean). He is Coordinator of the Network Research Groups of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development: Center for Studies and Planning in Water Resources and Water Network.