International, national and local market dynamics and private and public sector financial flows are treated as indirect drivers of pastoral and agricultural practices of dryland people, driving either sustainable use of dryland natural resources, or desertification. Regarding globalization, the increasing focus on raising production for exports in Ghana (mostly semiarid) and Mexico (more than half of country arid to dry subhumid), for instance, has led to increasing degradation.

The negative impacts from increased access to markets challenge the conclusion of Zaal et al. (2002) that much of the explanation for the successful intensification in the Kenyan Machakos may be attributed to access to enlarged markets. As far as local markets are concerned, these drive livestock management decisions and determine the effects that land degradation and droughts have on human well-being. Local markets for off-farm labor also influence farm-level resources and resource management decisions, particularly regarding the use of fertilizers and land improvements.