Context:

A recent report by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) highlighted alarming global trends in land dryness and desertification. 

More on the News:

• The report, The Global Threat of Drying Lands: Regional and global aridity trends and future projections, was launched at the 16th conference of UNCCD’s nearly 200 Parties in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (COP16).
• This report underscores the urgent need for global cooperation and climate action to address the growing threat of desertification.

Key Findings of the report:

Expansion of Drylands:

• Over 77% of Earth’s land has experienced drier climates over the past three decades (up to 2020), compared to the previous 30-year period.
• Drylands have expanded by approximately 4.3 million square kilometers (about a third larger than India) over the past 30 years.
• Drylands now cover more than 40% of Earth's land, representing a significant environmental shift.
• The number of people living in drylands has doubled to 2.3 billion over the past three decades.
• Climate-related increases in aridification and desertification pose growing threats to the lives and livelihoods of those in drylands, particularly in densely populated regions such as California, Egypt, Pakistan, India, and northeastern China.
• Half of the world’s dryland inhabitants live in Asia and Africa, with densely populated regions in California, Egypt, northern Pakistan, parts of India, and northeastern China.

Predictions of Dryland Expansion:

• If greenhouse gas emissions are not curbed, it is projected that another 3% of the world’s humid areas will transform into drylands by the end of the century, thus affecting vast regions across the globe and threatening the livelihoods of billions.
• Further expansion of drylands will happen in: the midwestern U.S., Central Mexico, Northern Venezuela, Northeastern Brazil, the Mediterranean region, the Black Sea coast, southern Africa, and southern Australia.
• Projections suggest that by 2100, up to 5 billion people could inhabit drylands under worst-case climate scenarios.

Worst affected Regions:

• Areas especially affected include 96% of Europe, parts of the western U.S., Brazil, Asia, and central Africa.
• South Sudan and Tanzania have seen the largest percentage of land transitioning to drylands.
• China has experienced the largest total area of land shifting from non-drylands to drylands.

Key Recommendations:

• The report serves as a wake-up call for urgent action to mitigate the expanding desertification and aridity crisis, which is reshaping life on Earth.
• The UNCCD stresses that without effective measures to curb climate change and manage dryland areas, the situation will worsen significantly in the coming decades.