Book Review: Land Degradation and Desertification

Wilson, G.A. (n.d). European Policy and Desertification: Evidence From the Local State.

Land degradation and desertification are common phenomena in many parts of the world, including the arid, dry-sub-humid, and sub-humid regions. Human activities are the predominant cause of climate change. To reduce, prevent, and manage land degradation and desertification, policies play an integral role, especially at the local level. In his book, Wilson tries to understand the possible influences of desertification policies, which he claims could be either away, positive or negative, depending on the implementation effectiveness. The book has underlined how the policy influences the desertification process while using multiple case studies, including the Guadalentin Valley in Spain, the Northern Mediterranean, Italy, and Portugal. Therefore, the book has utilized more pieces of evidence from various parts of Europe.

Analysis and Evaluation of the Book

According to Wilson (p. 3), policymaking is a political procedure that involves an understanding of different parties' goals and philosophies. After the formulation at the state level, the implementation occurs either nationally or at the local level. Policies have specific direct and indirect repercussions on land degradation and the dissertation. For instance, the laws that prohibit human actions against environmental sustainability, like deforestation, have direct impacts. Likewise, the rules that are determined towards promoting the changes in the land-use patterns fall under the indirect aspects. Apparently, Wilson maintains that rules like an automatic ban on illicit human activities would control the spread of degradation and finally protect the soil cover from desertification. However, the literature fails to highlight the effective implementation of such a procedure at the local level, such as awareness creation.

Similarly, Wilson cites various challenges that the policy to curb land degradation and desertification has experienced in the Northern Mediterranean. Among the drawbacks are a lack of coordination and cooperation amongst the administrators, a lack of policy coordination due to power decentralization, weak civil societies to facilitate sustainable environmental practices, and a lack of morale and motivation among people, especially at the grassroots levels. Likewise, conflicting rules like the CAP framework have jeopardized environmental integrity by encouraging individuals to intensify the production process, making land remain in a more vulnerable state. Generally, Wilson is trying to justify that an effective land degradation control is supposed to be an integrated approach, especially by all stakeholders. All parties, beginning from the regime, civil societies, and the community at large, must be actively involved.

The Guardalentine Valley in Spain's scenario is the same. With salinization, over-exploitation, and groundwater influences as the key drivers for desertification, CAP procedures continue to promote extensive farming through destructive irrigation. Although CAP has implemented some agri-environmental activities, the impacts on desertification remain questionable. Indeed, Wilson reports poor implementation strategies of environmental protection policies as the leading cause of advanced land degradation and desertification, even in Portugal and Italy. Nevertheless, where more sustainable mechanisms have been used, the control of desertification has been inevitable.

Conclusion

Overall, Wilson takes a stance that policy has failed to address land degradation and desertification in Southern Europe. While the laws are supposed to ensure that environmental protection and sustainability procedures are followed, the local stakeholders (community) are still excluded from the plans. Likewise, the agricultural leaders who support programs like CAP are primarily for subsidies at the expense of controlling degradation and desertification. In general, the author's claim that poor ground execution of policies is behind the long-term issues of desertification and land degradation in Southern Europe is valid. Surely, the locals are the real custodians and agents of maximum change towards culminating desertification. Therefore, the authority must collaborate with the community to implement effective land-use practices that are environmentally friendly while creating maximum public awareness.