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Every year on June 17, the worldwide community commemorates the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, a United Nations initiative to raise awareness about the mounting risks of land degradation and water scarcity. Desertification is no longer limited to arid places; it is spreading across continents, silently destroying fertile lands, jeopardizing food security, displacing communities, and adding to environmental instability. This developing catastrophe is not just ecological, but also severely legal.
The purpose of this article is to investigate the legal features of desertification and drought, specifically how current legal frameworks at both the international and national levels are responding—or failing to respond—to these rising difficulties. As climate change accelerates, it is more important than ever to have strong laws that protect land, promote sustainable resource use, and defend the rights of vulnerable groups. This article aims to explain how the law may function as both a shield (protecting communities and the environment) and a sword (holding polluters and officials accountable).
The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) defines desertification as “land degradation in arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas resulting from various factors, including climatic variations and human activities.” Meanwhile, drought is commonly defined as a prolonged absence or significant lack of rainfall. However, many national legislations still lack a defined legal definition of drought, complicating its categorization as a “disaster” and delaying timely policy responses.
It is critical to distinguish between natural desertification and those caused by unsustainable farming practices, deforestation, and inadequate water management—areas where the law must intervene aggressively.
The UN Convention on Desertification (UNCCD), adopted in 1994, is still the major international legal instrument addressing desertification. It requires signatory countries to create National Action Programs (NAPs) that combat land degradation and promote sustainable land management practices. Despite being legally obligatory, the Convention’s reliance on state collaboration makes enforcement difficult at times.
The Paris Agreement, which focuses on climate change mitigation, indirectly helps anti-desertification measures through its targets on adaptation and sustainable land use. Similarly, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15.3 seeks to achieve “Land Degradation Neutrality” by 2030, a target that is strongly reliant on both national and international legal compliance.
National legal frameworks vary greatly. Some countries have passed specialized land management laws, water policies, or drought mitigation acts, whereas others rely on fragmented environmental legislation.
In India, for example, the Environment Protection Act, Forest Conservation Act, and National Disaster Management Act give some instruments, although they are not always coherent or coordinated.
The judiciary has intervened through Public Interest Litigations (PILs), holding governments responsible for land misuse. However, legal enforcement frequently fails owing to bureaucratic inefficiency, a lack of understanding, or political resistance.
Several legal gaps continue to prevent real progress:
International accords have weak enforcement measures.
In many nations, the legal status of drought is ambiguous, causing relief operations to be delayed.
Indigenous and local groups are excluded from land-use policymaking.
Lack of integration between climate change legislation and land degradation measures.
Furthermore, the lack of clear land tenure rights in many rural areas makes it difficult for impacted populations to seek legal redress or compensation.
Desertification and drought disproportionately affect low-income, rural, and Indigenous people, which are least responsible for climate change. Legal systems must acknowledge this injustice and respond with a rights-based approach that protects the right to food, water, shelter, and a healthy environment.
Legal empowerment, public interest litigation, and environmental rights activism are critical strategies for achieving justice. In recent years, courts in India, Colombia, and South Africa have increasingly interpreted constitutional rights to include protection from environmental degradation, establishing strong legal precedent.
To effectively combat desertification, the law must be innovative:
Encourage nature-based solutions (such as afforestation and watershed development) through legal mandates.
Use climate litigation to demand government action and corporate accountability.
Use satellite technology and Geographical Information System to legally document land decay and hold violators responsible.
Such technologies can help to move the law from reactive to proactive, preventing damage before it is irreversible.
The cracks in the earth are no longer merely geological, but also legal, political, and ethical. As desertification and drought transform our landscapes and livelihoods, we must consider not only what science can do, but also what the law must do. A more robust, rights-based, and enforceable legal response is required—not only for sustainability, but also for justice.
This article was created by Adv. Abdul Mulla, who is profoundly committed to environmental and climate justice. For legal consultations or professional assistance on environmental law, human rights, or public interest litigation, you can contact him via his platforms: http://www.lifeandlaw.in and http://www.asmlegalservices.in.
Adv. Abdul Mulla (Mob. No. 937 007 2022) is a seasoned legal professional with over 18 years of experience in advocacy, specializing in diverse areas of law, including Real Estate and Property Law, Matrimonial and Divorce Matters, Litigation and Dispute Resolution, and Will and Succession Planning. read more….
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