How climate change is causing more and more of the world’s land to dry up

A 2024 UN report found that in the last three decades , over three-fourths of all the world’s land became drier than it had been in the previous 30 years .

Drying is occurring in many parts of the world, including the western U.S. , Brazil , most of Europe , Asia and central Africa .

The number of people living in drylands doubled over the last 30 years to 2.3 billion , representing over 25% of the global population.

Desertification, land degradation and drought costs the world $878 billion each year .

Restoring 1 billion hectares of land would reduce poverty and hunger and enhance carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation and water management.

The Loess Plateau in China is often considered the “paragon of ecological restoration”.

Cities around the world are using nature-based strategies to stave off desertification.

Planting trees and other vegetation where it doesn’t exist helps to improve soil quality and prevent erosion.

Governments, NGOs, private investors and local communities all need to be involved in desertification efforts.