"Desertification, extreme weather events and rising sea levels are challenges to security and even survival.
The developed countries are duty-bound to show solidarity. "

Speech delivered by Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the French Republic, at the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference in New York.

Contrary to popular belief, land degradation and desertification (LDD) does not only affect drylands in Africa. These processes affect almost half of the globe’s surface, about one hundred countries on all continents and a third of the world’s population among the poorest and the most
vulnerable. These phenomena have increased over roughly the past sixty years owing to population growth, unsuitable practices of natural resource exploitation and increasing climate irregularities.

France’s external action against land degradation and desertification - (PDF, 1 Mo)