Most people are familiar with environmental problems such as clean air and toxic waste. But a new environmental villain, which threatens to drive millions from their homes and destroy ecosystems, is largely unknown to most people — and this problem is called desertification. According to Planet Ark, a new international study involving over one thousand scientists in ninety five nations revealed that some two billion people live in dry lands vulnerable to desertification, which is caused primarily by overgrazing and over-planting of crops. Infant mortality in such places is double the rate of other poor regions, and increasingly intense dust storms are already wreaking havoc on sensitive ecosystems. A scorching problem, indeed!