This point is made even more clearly when one considers that the heavy out-migration from rural to urban areas is predominantly youth. […] It is noteworthy, especially for the UNCCD partners in developed countries, that an estimated 20% of the present population are migrants from the sub-region in search of better economic opportunities, or refugees from other West African coun- tries torn apart by civil strife. [...] Desertification does not only reduce the nation’s vegetation cover. The Gambia is confronted with the familiar set of problems associated with environmental degradation: Salt water intrusion into the fresh water zone of the river system; salt water seepage into the upper aquifer of the fresh water system in the coastal areas; soil salinisation and -erosion, decreasing fertility of the arable land, and finally, migration. [...] High immigration rates due to rapid desertification in Senegal and political instability in the region, [...] While the overall country’s population density gives pause, it is only compounded by the high migration from the rural areas into the urban settlements, particularly in the coastal areas (e.g. Kanifing, Serekunda, and Sukuta). The 1993 Household Census found that 37% of the population residing in the Kanifing Municipal Area (68,000 per- sons) were migrants from rural parts of the country.