DESERTIFICATION AND SUSTAINABLE UTILISATION OF NATURAL FOREST RESOURCES IN BORNO STATE

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) defines desertification as:"land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry subhumid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities (United Nations, 1994). Furthermore, UNCCD defines land degradation as a: "reduction or loss, in arid, semi-arid, and dry subhumid areas, of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rain fed cropland, irrigated cropland, or range, pasture, forest and woodlands resulting from land uses or from a process or combination of processes, arising from human activities and habitation patterns, such as soil erosion, deterioration of the physical, chemical, and biological or economic properties of soil; and long-term loss of natural vegetation" (United Nations,1994). Desertification, if not controlled, could convert an erstwhile fertile and productive land into an infertile and unproductive one, with devastating socio-economic and political consequences for both the local and international communities.