Earth’s lands are drying out, says report at UN summit
Desertification could impact access to water
Much of Earth’s lands are drying out and damaging the ability of plant and animal life to survive, according to a United nations report released Monday.
the report was released at the Un summit in Riyadh, Saudi arabia, on combating desertification — once-fertile lands turning into deserts because of hotter temperatures from humancaused climate change, lack of water, and deforestation. It found that more than threequarters of the world’s land experienced drier conditions from 1970 to 2020 than the previous thirty-year period.
“the drier climates now affecting vast lands across the globe will not return to how they were," said Ibrahim thiaw, chief of the United nations Convention to Combat Desertification, which is facilitating the Riyadh talks. “this change is redefining life on Earth.”
at the talks, which started last week and are set to end on Friday, nations are discussing how better they can help the world deal with droughts — a more urgent lack of water over shorter periods — and the more permanent problem of degrading land.
If global warming trends continue, nearly 5 billion people will be affected by the drying by the end of the century, up from a quarter of the world’s population today, the report warned.
UNCCD'S chief scientist Barron Orr warned drier land could lead to “potentially catastrophic impacts affecting access to water that could push people and nature even closer to disastrous tipping points,” where humans are no longer able to reverse climate change.
Sergio Vicente-serrano, one of the lead authors of the report, said that as the atmosphere heats up because the burning of coal, oil, and gas spews planetwarming emissions, it leads to more evaporation on the ground. that makes water less available for humans, plants, and animals, making it harder to survive.
Farming is particularly at risk, with drier land being less productive and hurting both yields and the availability of food for livestock, the report said. that can lead to food insecurity for communities worldwide.
negotiators in Riyadh are mainly discussing how best the world can respond to more frequent and damaging droughts.
thiaw, the UNCCD chief, said that hosts Saudi arabia pledging $2.15 billion from various countries and international banks for drought resilience has set the right tone for the meetings. and the arab Coordination group — 10 development banks based in the Middle East — committed $10 billion by 2030.
the funds are expected to support 80 of the most vulnerable countries prepare for worsening drought conditions.
But the Un estimates that between 2007 and 2017, droughts cost $125 billion worldwide.