The dryland environment of Africa poses formidable problems for sustainable development. Among these are unpredictable and severe drought, desiccation or aridi®cation due to persistent drought and dryland degradation or deserti®cation. Because these problems overlap in their eects on the ground, often those who seek sustainable development for these drylands tend to view the problems as one and the same. Yet to facilitate the development of appropriate and eective mitigating measures it is important that the dierences and interrelationships be clearly understood. This article starts by outlining the dierences and interlinkages between deserti®cation, drought, desiccation and climate change and their causal factors. The central theme is the human causes and consequences of deserti®cation in the drylands of Africa. An attempt has been made to unravel the changing views on the human causes, this is followed by a brief outline of the intervening plans and actions to stem the problem. A signi®cant drawback in combating deserti®cation and drought is the failure of African governments to devolve power to the people who are aected, and to link environmental degradation to economic policy. Consequently, many programmes lack local support or are undermined by con¯icting trade and agricultural policies pursued by governments. It is contended that, for sustainable development strategies to work, policies should put the welfare of the people in these drylands at the centre of the development agenda and give them the rights and the power to determine their future. They should empower the people to sustain adaptive strategies towards sustainable livelihoods. Also the threats posed to environment and sustainable development by protectionism and overconsumption in the north and structural adjustment programmes (SAPs), call for the removal of distortions created by the import barriers of developed country, the curbing of overconsumption and a fundamental revision in the structure of SAPs to help alleviate poverty and protect the environment in these African countries. It is in the interest of the global community that the environment in Africa is protected.