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…

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…

This research investigates the human impact on land-cover dynamics in arid agro-ecosystems. Using remote sensing and ancillary datasets combined with classification and regression tree (CART) models, we mapped land-cover class distributions over 22 years (1988–2009) to characterize agricultural…

Deserts may be difficult to define, but they play an active role in the evolution of our global climate and society at large, and their future is of the utmost importance.

The vegetable world – the original consumer society – is responding to climate change. As the supply of carbon dioxide goes up, so does demand from plants, according to new research. Foliage now is currently removing more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than it did two centuries ago − and the…

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…