From James Edmondson
So, a UN spokesman alleges that an area equivalent to Somalia has been lost
to desert in the last 50 years
(27 October, p 44).
The problem with this statement is that nobody has a clue what it means. Not only
does the size of Somalia spring to mind about as readily as the size of the Sea of
Tranquility, but if you do dig out a map, you’ll find Somalia’s shape particularly unhelpful
for visualising area.
The standard imperial unit of devastation, deforestation or desertification
is, as everybody knows, the Wales, and the standard European unit is the
Belgium. These units are widely accepted because they give you a ready mental
picture of area. How much better if the UN spokesman had said that 0.6 Wales per
year have been lost to desert over the last 50 years.
Yeovil, Somerset
