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Desertification is taken to mean land degradation in dryland regions, and is used interchangeably with dryland degradation throughout.

Desertification should be clearly distinguished from drought, a period of two years or more with rainfall below average, and desiccation, a process of aridification resulting from a dry period lasting the order of decades.

By climate variation or climate change, we mean short-term climate variability and longer-term trends or shifts in climate caused by natural mechanisms or by human activity.

The term global warming is used to indicate climate change resulting from greenhouse gas emissions.


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