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Three-quarters of the land is drying out, 'redefining life on Earth'

Climate change has made great swaths of the planet's land drier and saltier, jeopardizing food production and water access for billions.

Drylands, or arid areas where water is hard to come by, now make up more than 40 percent of the planet (excluding Antarctica), a likely permanent consequence of climate change, according to a landmark report by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, or UNCCD. Climate change is already hampering food production, leaving one in 11 people worldwide hungry last year, and the research suggests the problem will intensify, particularly in much of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Waterhouse has doubts about some proposals highlighted in the research she considers “top-down technocratic solutions.” The Great Green Wall, a multibillion-dollar initiative to plant trees to combat desertification in the Sahel region of Africa, is one example.

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