It is here that desertification gained its current profile, in part as the result of the disastrous and well documented periods of famine that occurred sporadically throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s, in which between 50 000 and half a million people are estimated to have died. This essay aims to assess the importance of the role played by desertification, outlining the various sides of the argument, from the definite recognition of desertification as an important and pressing environmental problem, to those who believe it is a 'myth", or that there is insufficient evidence to categorically deny either conclusion.

             There is a large quantity of hysteria and ignorance surrounding the desertification question. Early images often portrayed unstoppable marching dunes, ready to ruthlessly take over productive lands, such that Stebbing (1935) wrote;.

             "The desert is advancing . The end is obvious; total annihilation of vegetation and the disappearance of man and beast." (in Mortimore, 1987) Developments in our understanding have changed this ideology, as is noted by Lindqvist and Tengberg; "the conception of the advancing desert edge is undoubtedly wrong." Given the need to discuss the topic to more academic lengths, in light of the problems being experienced by Sahelian countries, the United Nations Conference on Desertification (UNCOD) was convened in Nairobi in 1977, which began the modern era of discussion.

             For the conference to get over the first hurdle, they had to initially tackle the controversial definitional issues, which in some instance, had led to gross overestimations of the extent of desertification by up to 66 %. (Thomas, in Ringrose et al 1995) The term desertification had, since its inception by Aubreville (1949) been adapted into popular parlance, resulting in it being "generally overused and misused as a result." (Middleton, 1987) An element of social or interpretational relativism hampered attempts to clearly define desertification, as the differing views of each of the commentators resulted in differing, and often conflicting, aspects that each thought should be included in a definition.