The future of deserts

Major changes are likely to be experienced in the arid and semi-arid lands in the next few decades. The most important changes will be induced by increasing human pressure of various kinds: increasing population, both in rural and urban contexts, continuing oil developments, and larger numbers of ambitious water developments. Urban populations have profound impacts in semi-arid lands, which are all the more obvious for the absence of vegetation cover. Rural populations may be reaching the limits of cultivable land in many areas, and this could, though not: necessarily, have impacts on soils and vegetation. These changes may or may not be serious enough to influence climate and so induce a real and perhaps lasting change in these environments. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited