According to a report by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), more than 75 percent of the Earth has become permanently dry over the past 30 years.
About 77.6 percent of the Earth became drier between 1990 and 2020, according to a report released Monday, making it drier than in the previous 30 years.
During this period, the portion of Earth classified as dry land expanded by approximately 1.66 million square miles, an area larger than India. According to the UNCCD, these lands now cover more than 40 percent of the planet.
In recent decades, nearly 8 percent of the Earth has crossed the border from non-arid to arid, much of which was once humid, and an additional 3 percent of similar areas remain unabated. It is possible that we will cross that line by the end of the 21st century. In its report, the group warns about greenhouse gas emissions.
UNCCD believes that much of the increase in aridity is due to anthropogenic climate change, which affects both temperature and precipitation. The persistent dryness described in the report is not the same as drought conditions, but the western United States has similarly experienced rising temperatures and declining snowpack in recent years, increasing the risk of catastrophic fires.
As drylands expand further, many regions are likely to be affected, UNCCD found. Areas where drylands would expand under the high-emissions scenario include the Midwest of the United States, central Mexico, large areas of southern Africa, and the entire Mediterranean Sea.
“Unlike drought, which is a temporary period of low rainfall, dryness represents a permanent and unrelenting change,” UNCCD Director-General Ibrahim Tiao said in a statement. “Droughts end. But when a region's climate becomes drier, it loses its ability to return to its previous state.”
“The arid climate that currently affects vast tracts of land around the world is irreversible, and this change is redefining life on Earth,” Thiau added.
