Maria Font de Matas/IRIN

Desertification affects approximately 2.5 million people today, with this figure expected to reach 10 million by 2030. Developing countries are expected to experience over 80% of these impacts. Rising temperatures and stronger winds due to climate change aggravate this process by which arable land degrades into desert. Desertification spreads infectious diseases, wildfire damage, and decreases land productivity. It pushes societies into poverty and conflict to the point where some inhabitants have to uproot and leave.