The word "desertification" may not be familiar to some readers; however, it goes to the core of global environmental concerns that increasingly preoccupy people on all continents of the globe.

This book, published by the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs and the Bureau of International Information Programs, attempts to define, explain, and offer suggestions about how to deal with the insidious process of land degradation in agricultural and forest areas worldwide that is known as desertification.

Although some aspects are hidden from human sight, desertification affects everybody on the planet by robbing global soil of nutrients, degrading agricultural production, spreading dust throughout the globe, contaminating water, and making it far more difficult to remedy poverty and hunger.

Some of the causes are natural cycles of weather; some relate to human population increase and farming practices. However, it is clear from many historical and contemporary examples that enlightened land management can mitigate or remedy the problem. Herein lies the hopeful side of the story.

Chapter 1 defines the scope and nature of the problem, noting that "the earth's landmasses are losing as much as 24 billion [thousand million] tons of topsoil every year." The chapter goes on to discuss the catastrophic human consequences, and finally the global attempt to deal with the issue embodied in the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification that went into force in 1996.

Chapter 2 discusses the American experience of disastrous desertification, as reflected for the most part in the spoilage of Midwestern agriculture during the 1930s. Only government-mandated reforms in land management salvaged the environment and agricultural potential of the American Midwest.

Chapter 3 discusses the early signs of desertification that need to be tracked in order to "take action to reverse land degradation before it becomes severe." Such observation can involve data relayed from space satellites to computers, as well as local research and awareness.

Chapter 4, "Land Management," makes it clear that the solution to desertification lies ultimately in the practices of local people. Given sufficient ownership of land to profit from its fertility, and knowledge of simple practices that offset desertification, farmers in all parts of the globe can reverse the process.

Chapter 5, "Water," concludes the publication by showing how loss of land through desertification and loss of water are intrinsically interconnected, as irrigation systems needed to coax more crops out of deteriorating soil inadvertently deposit salt into soil, leading to a deadly cycle of environmental decay.

This book, then, is a wake-up call for those in all nations of the world concerned about the future of the natural planet. The causes of desertification vary from place to place, and the solutions have been defined only in part. Continued attention to this problem is needed as increasing human population makes demands on land, water and crop resources and the food and habitat they provide.