Drylands
Drylands are defined by a scarcity of water, and cover more than 40% of the earth surface. Drylands are present in more than 100 countries and home to over 2 billion people. Most drylands are found in Africa (66%) and Asia (40%).There are proportionally more drylands in developing countries (72%).
Climate change in drylands adds to challenges of scarcity of water - affecting rainfall volume and seasonality which can increase the frequency of drought and chronic water shortage. This can affect people's livelihoods, especially subsistence farmers. It can also have a large-scale impact for cities and societies, and even countries, when depletion of scarce resources is allowed to continue unmanaged. Also, higher temperatures increase evaporation from the ground and surfaces and evapotranspiration via vegetation. Increasing floods can also contribute to washing away degraded soils and clog dams and waterways downstream furthermore challenging people’s livelihoods and safety. Degradation of dryland soils - through desertification or degradation - affects climate change directly. Dryland soils play an extremely important role in mitigation of climate change as they store at least one third of the world's carbon.
Drylands pose many challenges for human society. Climate change and following land degradation, can lead to migration. In addition, rainfall variability and drought can significantly challenge economic development, and contribute to poverty, and food insecurity.
Desertification is considered one of the most serious problems facing many regions including the Mediterranean. By working with proper soil and water management, and vegetation regeneration it is possible to mitigate trends of desertification.
International concern over the rate and scale of desertification has led to the ratification and entry into force of the Framework Convention of the United Nations for Combating Desertification (CCD).
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