Desertification Land Degradation

Desertification and land degradation has attracted a lot of global attention in the past few years. The increasing world population indicates that in the coming years there will be a huge increase in the demand for food by 2050. Despite this increase, the land that is available for farming purposes is not increasing. In addition to this, the damage caused by the rigorous use of fertilizers and pesticides that are inorganic, soils that are degraded and reduced biodiversity is forcing more people to seek alternative ways to achieve global food security. Climate change and variability have a very strong negative impact on the arid and semi-arid lands of the world. This is a problem that was long foreseen by the UN and for this reason, they declared

In the county of Baringo in Kenya, the women have proven their ability to manage effectively dry lands that are degraded through rehabilitation-cultivating pasture- and this has enabled them to earn their livelihoods. Biodiversity conservation and soil health promotion is advocated for strongly by AgriCultures Network. Small scale farmers who are most vulnerable to desertification as well as land degradation have taken up this type of agriculture. These two phenomena-desertification and land degradation- are not just a natural phenomenon but are as a result of long-term overexploitation and poor management of the already fragile ecosystems. According to the UN statistics, 1.5 people around the globe are directly affected by degradation of land and another 12 million hectares of land become unproductive as a result of desertification. These effects are further made worse by climate change and their impacts are devastating. A good example to illustrate these effects is the impoverished communities of the dry land in Sahel and Horn of Africa. These communities experience high levels chronic malnutrition, hunger, child mortality and migration.

REHABILITATION OF ARID AND SEMI ARID LANDS IN KENYA 5

Questions remain on how countries are trying to reduce land degradation and desertification. As a country, Kenya has put some measures in place to make sure that these

Economically, some of these families have done well with some earning an annual income of over 17,000 U.S. dollars and with improved financial status, some of these pastoralist communities are eligible for loans using the privately rehabilitated lands as collateral. In effect, there has been a gradual behavioral change among the pastoralist communities. Initially, most of these families owned large herds of livestock but this practice has shifted to owning and managing small numbers of livestock that is of high value in small enclosures. This practice has greatly alleviated poverty (Stene,