Deserts are regions of great aridity, with large areas of bare soil, very little vegetation cover and few animals. They contain some of this planet’s most extreme environments, including the driest and hottest places on Earth. Despite the harsh conditions, many deserts have a long history of human occupation and today the world’s deserts and semi-deserts are home to about a billion people. Life in the desert, as anywhere, depends on a reliable supply of certain basic human requirements, including water, food and shelter. The ways of securing these resources, both ancient and modern, form the focus for this Environment Today.
Traditionally, desert inhabitants followed one of three types of livelihood: hunter-gathering, pastoralism or farming. Groups of desert hunter-gatherers are few and far between in the modern world, but many more people continue to herd animals and farm using techniques that have changed relatively little over the generations.
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