A seminomadic traditional land use system, based on the ecological properties of a unique environmental constellation at the boundary between winter and summer rainfall climate, might have been instrumental in conserving natural resources in the Northern Richtersveld (Northwestern Namaqualand, Northern Cape Region, RSA). In the arid to semiarid northern part of the Richtersveld, desertification processes are of relatively low intensity, if compared with the southern part of the Richtersveld, in spite of the generally higher level of aridity on the Northern Richtersveld. This observation is of wider interest because the two regions of the Richtersveld have experienced a different history of land-tenure and land use practices, which might, in part, have caused the different level of resource degradation. Keywords: Desertification, Namib Desert, Richtersveld, communal grazing, biodiversity.