FAO offers novel assessment of trees and forests in the world’s drylands Geospatial data and global network of partnerships produces new insights on more than 40 percent of the earth’s surface

Restoration needs along Africa's drylands have been mapped and quantified for the first time. A groundbreaking map of restoration opportunities along Africa's Great Green Wall has been launched at the UN climate change conference, based on collection and analysis of crucial land-use information to…

Drylands cover 40 percent of the Earth’s land surface and are home to more than 2 billion people. Despite climatic and environmental limitations, cultivable drylands play a critical role in ensuring food and nutrition security for these people, and for the rest of the world. One-third of all the…

While aridity generally decreased in the drylands of Asia during 1948–2008, the change in aridity was opposite in the drylands of the American and African continents between 1948 and 1979 and 1980–2008. Specifically, drylands in the American continent showed a wetting tendency during 1948–1979 and a…

Erosion by wind is one of the principal processes associated with land degradation in drylands and is a significant concern to land managers and policymakers globally. In the drylands of North America, millions of tons of soil are lost to wind erosion annually. Of the 60 million ha in the United…

ECLAC and FAO’s new Atlas of Migration in Northern Central America shows that the majority of migrants from the countries of the Northern Triangle -Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador- come from rural areas. The report, which analyzes the main characteristics of migration in the subregion, was…

According to the November issue of the JRC MARS Crop monitoring in Europe Bulletin, published yesterday, large parts of central Europe still experience dry soil conditions. Strong rainfall deficits hampered field preparations and sowing operations, with consequences on plant emergence and early crop…

The way we produce and consume food is changing, and fast. Producers must leverage modern farming techniques, factories must revolutionise the way they plan, and produce supply chains must be completely overhauled to account for years like 2018, which saw the Beast from the East give way to the…

Globalization increases the interconnectedness of people and places around the world. In a connected world, goods and services consumed in one country are often produced in other countries and exchanged via international trade. Thus, local consumption is increasingly met by global supply chains…

Global food security and agricultural land management represent two urgent and intimately related challenges that humans must face. The authors quantify the changes in the global agricultural land footprint if the world were to adhere to the dietary guidelines put forth by the United States…

Representing nearly 41% of the land above sea level, arid zones are home to more than two billion people who suffer from the ongoing degradation of the land and soil that provide them sustenance. Owing to desertification and droughts, nearly twelve million hectares of land are no longer arable each…

This year’s theme for the World Day to Combat Desertification focuses on sustainable land management (SLM) as a way to regenerate economies, create jobs and revitalize communities. Under the slogan “Land has true value – Invest in it”. Over the years, IUCN has focused its efforts on advocating for…

The publication is devoted to the deserts of the world and desertification as a global phenomenon of land degradation. Encyclopedia contains more than 1000 articles, which describe the deserts of the world; Large lakes and transit rivers crossing the deserts; general terms on climate, vegetation…

A new study has quantified the economic impact of reducing avoidable food waste in Germany, Poland and Spain. The researchers modelled impacts on production, GDP and employment. The results show that reducing food waste from households has the greatest impact, although policy measures should be…

Where in the world will people’s lives be affected by water issues by the year 2050? What is the impact of the growing global population, further urbanisation and climate change on these water risks, the food supply and migration? This new report by the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment…

Dryland areas are being seriously affected by degradation processes. The use of organic amendments in ecosystem restoration is an effective technique for accelerating soil regeneration processes in degraded drylands. This recovery is a result of the rapid increment of organic matter and clay…

Over the past 16 years, Excellent Development has been working with partners across Kenya, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Sudan, Chad, Swaziland and India. Our main focus has been to enable the building of sand dams in these arid and semi-arid lands to provide access to clean water and all its…

The negative impact of a lack of plant functional diversity on ecosystems is well-documented, and can be seen in action in most dryland ecosystems. However, the indirect effects of biotic interactions – activities of certain living organisms that can impact the survival of others – are still unknown…

The world’s soils store more carbon than the planet’s biomass and atmosphere combined. An increase of just 1% of the carbon stocks in the top metre of soils would be higher than the amount corresponding to the annual anthropogenic CO2 emissions from fossil fuel burning. Many innovations in…

This edited volume is devoted to the examination of the implications of the inevitable changes wrought by global change on the welfare and livelihoods of tens of millions of people who live in dryland regions. Global change is more than just climate change and the ramifications of changing trade…

As river basin authorities and national governments develop policies to achieve sustainable development outcomes, conflicting signals between existing policies are undermining cross-thematic integrative modes of policy planning. This raises fundamental questions over how coherent portfolios of…

Restoration of degraded land can create vast bioenergy crop potential, without constraining food crops or other land use options. This presents an important opportunity for African countries to develop modern, sustainable bioenergy from rapidly growing wood crops at the same time as pursuing…

More than a quarter of the planet’s surface could become significantly drier if global temperatures rise 2C above pre-industrial levels, scientists predict. The study, which is one of the most detailed assessments to date of future aridity, suggests that many regions could face an increased threat…

What are drylands and why are they important? Present in each continent and covering over 40 per cent of the earth, drylands generally refer to arid, semi-arid and dry subhumid areas, and are home to more than 2 billion people, or one in three people in the world. Drylands are key to global food and…

With the reality of climate change becoming more real by the day, including its impact on food sources, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is urging communities around the world not to take the prickly cactus for granted. “Climate change and the increasing risks of droughts…