Desertification
![Global desertification vulnerability map](/Images/godic/202501/08/Desertification_map3351.png")
![Lake Chad in a 2001 satellite image, with the actual lake in blue. The lake has shrunk by 94% since the 1960s.[1]](/Images/godic/202501/08/ShrinkingLakeChad-1973-1997-EO3351.jpg")
![Preventing Man-made OvergrazingGoats inside of a pen in Norte Chico, Chile. Overgrazing of drylands by poorly managed traditional herding is one of the primary causes of desertification.Wildebeest in Masai Mara during the Great Migration. Overgrazing is not caused by nomadic grazers in huge populations of travel herds,[22][23] nor by holistic planned grazing.[24]](/Images/godic/202501/08/Cabrasnortechico3351.JPG")
![](/Images/godic/202501/08/Wildebeest-during-Great-Migration3351.JPG")
Desertification is a type of land degradation in which a relatively dry land region becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife. It is caused by a variety of factors, such as climate change and human activities. Desertification is a significant global ecological and environmental problem.