View of Al Ghat National Park in Saudi Arabia on November 28, 2024. Al Ghat National Park, managed by the National Center for Vegetation Cover Development & Combating Desertification, and Waterfront Park, managed by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu, were the first winners of the Green Flag Award. Image credit: AFP Photo
By AFP - Agence France Presse
COP16 report warns that three-quarters of global land is “permanently drier”
Just over 75% of the world's land has become “permanently drier” in the last three decades, an UN-backed report said on Monday, coinciding with the COP16 negotiations on desertification in Saudi Arabia.
Dryland now covers around 40% of the Earth's land mass, excluding Antarctica, according to the study by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), warning that the change could affect up to five billion people by 2100.
“Some 77.6% of the Earth's land experienced drier conditions during the three decades leading up to 2020, compared to the previous 30-year period,” said the report.
It points to an “existential threat” posed by seemingly irreversible trends and shows that drylands - regions where farming is difficult - increased by 4.3 million square kilometers (1.7 million square miles) between 1990 and 2020, an area a third the size of India.
The warning was made during a 12-day meeting in Riyadh, which began last week, for the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) under the UNCCD and seeks to protect and restore land and respond to drought amid ongoing climate change.
Aridity, a chronic shortage of water, now extends over 40.6% of the Earth's land mass, again excluding Antarctica, compared to 37.5% 30 years ago, the report warns.
It also warns that the worst affected areas include nations bordering the Mediterranean, southern Africa, southern Australia, and certain regions of Asia and Latin America.
“Unlike droughts - temporary periods of low rainfall - aridity represents a permanent and relentless transformation,” said Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD.
“The drier climates that now affect vast lands around the world will never go back to the way they were, and this change is redefining life on Earth,” he added.
The changes are largely attributed to global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, which alter rainfall and increase evaporation, according to the report.
“For the first time, a UN scientific body is warning that the burning of fossil fuels is causing permanent drying in much of the world,” said UNCCD chief scientist Barron Orr.
He added that this could have “potentially catastrophic impacts affecting access to water that could push people and nature even closer to disastrous tipping points.”
The effects of chronic water scarcity include soil degradation, ecosystem collapse, food insecurity, and forced migration, according to scientists.
According to the report, 2.3 billion people already live in expanding dry areas, and projections show a “worst-case scenario” of five billion people living in such conditions as the planet continues to warm.
To combat this trend, the scientists called on members to “integrate aridity metrics into existing drought monitoring systems,” improve soil and water management, and “build resilience in vulnerable communities.”
sar-csp/it
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