During the same period, global drylands expanded by
approximately 4.3 million square kilometres — an area nearly a third larger
than India — now covering more than 40% of the Earth's land.
The report, launched
at the 16th conference of the UNCCD in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, warned that if
efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions fail, another 3% of the world's humid
areas are projected to transform into drylands by the end of this century.
Meanwhile, the number of people living in drylands has
doubled to 2.3 billion over the past three decades. Models suggest that as many
as five billion could inhabit drylands by 2100 in a worst-case climate change
scenario.
“These billions of people face even greater threats to
their lives and livelihoods from climate-related increases in aridification and
desertification,” the report said. Areas particularly hard-hit by the drying
trend include around 96% of Europe, parts of the western U.S., Brazil, Asia and
central Africa.
“South Sudan and Tanzania have the largest percentage of land
transitioning to drylands, with China experiencing the largest total area
shifting from non-drylands to drylands,” the report said.About half of the world's dryland inhabitants are located in Asia and
Africa. The most densely populated drylands are in California, Egypt, eastern
and northern Pakistan, large parts of India and northeastern China.
In high greenhouse gas emissions scenarios, dryland
expansion is forecast for the Midwestern United States, central Mexico,
northern Venezuela, northeastern Brazil, southeastern Argentina, the entire
Mediterranean region, the Black Sea coast, large parts of southern Africa and
southern Australia.b"This analysis finally dispels an uncertainty that has
long surrounded global drying trends. For
the first time, the aridity crisis has been documented with scientific clarity,
revealing an existential threat affecting billions around the globe," said
Ibrahim Thiaw, UNCCD Executive Secretary.
"Unlike droughts — temporary periods of low rainfall
— aridity represents a permanent, unrelenting transformation,” he
added."Droughts end. When an area's climate becomes drier, however, the ability to return to previous
conditions is lost. The drier climates now affecting vast areas across the
globe will not return to how they were, and this change is redefining life on
Earth," Mr. Thiaw said.