An area of Earth larger than Canada has transformed from humid lands to dryland over the last 30 years, destroying food systems, driving poverty and leading to water shortages said a new report from the United Nations’ Convention to Combat Desertification.
It said that between 1990 and 2020, more than three-quarters of the Earth’s land became permanently drier. More than 40 per cent of the global land mass (excluding Antarctica) is now classified as drylands – up from 37 per cent in previous decades. Twice as many people worldwide live in drylands today compared with 1990.
The report found that an area larger than Canada has been permanently transformed, for example from humid landscapes to drylands, or from forests into grasslands. China saw the largest total area permanently transformed; as a percentage of their total area, South Sudan and Tanzania were hit hardest.
Ibrahim Thiaw, the convention’s executive secretary, called it “an existential threat affecting billions of people”.
