BharatNotes Desertification
noun (uncountable)Usage in a UPSC answer
Decades of monoculture, aquifer depletion and the retreat of green cover have accelerated desertification across India's drylands, making the restoration of degraded land a central pillar of the country's climate-resilience and food-security strategy.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Word Family
desertify (v), desertified (adj), desert (n/v/adj), desertisation (n)
Root
Latin dēsertum = uninhabited place + -ficātiōnem = a making (from facere = to make)
Etymology
From English desert (from Latin dēsertum, "an uninhabited place") + -ification (from Latin -ficātiōnem, "a making"); the term was coined in the 1970s in the context of the Sahel drought.
Memory Hook
Desert + -ification = "the making of a desert" — picture once-fertile fields literally turning into sand.
How This Word Works in UPSC Writing
Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas resulting from climatic variation and human activity together. The definitional care that earns marks is that it is not an existing desert advancing across a frontier; it is productive dryland degrading in place, through overgrazing, unsustainable cultivation, deforestation and salinisation from poorly drained irrigation. Framing it as degradation rather than encroachment changes what the policy response has to be.
Don’t Confuse It With
Desertification is dryland degradation from combined climatic and human causes. Drought is a temporary rainfall deficit and is reversible. Land degradation is the wider category applying across all climatic zones. Salinisation is one specific pathway, common where irrigation lacks drainage.
Hindi Meaning
मरुस्थलीकरण (marusthalīkaran).
Common Questions
- What is desertification?
- Land degradation in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas arising from climatic variation together with human activity.
- Is desertification the same as deserts spreading?
- No. It is the degradation of productive dryland where it stands, through overgrazing, unsustainable cultivation and salinisation, not an existing desert advancing across a boundary.
Seen in UPSC Question Papers
- Mains 2020 · GS1 · 10 marks — Geography
Real UPSC previous-year questions whose text uses “Desertification” — proof this word earns its place on your list.
Tip: press Alt+S to hear pronunciation
