Editing IPCC:AR6/SRCCL/Chapter-3 (section)

==== 3.1.4.3 Interaction of drivers: Desertification syndrome versus drylands development paradigm ====

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Two broad narratives have historically emerged to describe responses of dryland populations to environmental degradation. The first is ‘desertification syndrome’ which describes the vicious cycle of resource degradation and poverty, whereby dryland populations apply unsustainable agricultural practices leading to desertification, and exacerbating their poverty, which then subsequently further limits their capacities to invest in SLM (MEA 2005 <sup>[[#fn:r196|196]]</sup> ; Safriel and Adeel 2008 <sup>[[#fn:r197|197]]</sup> ). The alternative paradigm is one of ‘drylands development’, which refers to social and technical ingenuity of dryland populations as a driver of dryland sustainability (MEA 2005; Reynolds et al. 2007 <sup>[[#fn:r198|198]]</sup> ; Safriel and Adeel 2008 <sup>[[#fn:r199|199]]</sup> ). The major difference between these two frameworks is that the ‘drylands development’ paradigm recognises that human activities are not the sole and/or most important drivers of desertification, but there are interactions of human and climatic drivers within coupled social-ecological systems (Reynolds et al. 2007 <sup>[[#fn:r200|200]]</sup> ). This led Behnke and Mortimore (2016) <sup>[[#fn:r201|201]]</sup> , and earlier Swift (1996) <sup>[[#fn:r202|202]]</sup> , to conclude that the concept of desertification as irreversible degradation distorts policy and governance in dryland areas. Mortimore (2016) <sup>[[#fn:r203|203]]</sup> suggested that instead of externally imposed technical solutions, what is needed is for populations in dryland areas to adapt to this variable environment which they cannot control. All in all, there is ''high confidence'' that anthropogenic and climatic drivers interact in complex ways in causing desertification. As discussed in Section 3.2.2, the relative influence of human or climatic drivers on desertification varies from place to place ( ''high confidence'' ) (Bestelmeyer et al. 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r204|204]]</sup> ; D’Odorico et al. 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r205|205]]</sup> ; Geist and Lambin 2004 <sup>[[#fn:r206|206]]</sup> ; Kok et al. 2016 <sup>[[#fn:r207|207]]</sup> ; Polley et al. 2013 <sup>[[#fn:r208|208]]</sup> ; Ravi et al. 2010 <sup>[[#fn:r209|209]]</sup> ; Scholes 2009 <sup>[[#fn:r210|210]]</sup> ; Sietz et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r211|211]]</sup> ; Sietz et al. 2011 <sup>[[#fn:r212|212]]</sup> ).

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