World Desertification and Drought Day: Affecting 55 million people every year

New Delhi: The world is observing the Desertification and Drought day today (June 17), under the theme  “Drought” for this year.
Spain, one of the European countries most vulnerable to drought and water shortages linked to climate change, is hosting this year’s global observance of Desertification and Drought Day.

The event titled, “Rising up from drought together,” will take place at the Auditorio Museo Nacional Reina Sofia in Madrid.

The event will be organized by the Government of Spain and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), where renowned scientists, issue experts, youth representatives, and high-level policymakers from Spain and around the world will speak in the event.

Pedro Sánchez, President of the Government of Spain, Alain-Richard Donwahi, President of UNCCD COP15, Côte d’Ivoire, Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary, UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), and Patricia Kombo, UNCCD Land Hero from Kenya are among the notable speakers.

According to the latest Drought in Numbers report from UNCCD, Droughts are increasing in frequency and severity by 29 percent since 2000 and affecting an estimated 55 million people every year.

By 2050, drylands may cover between 50 to 60 percent of all land, with an estimated three-quarter of the world’s population living in these areas under conditions of severe water scarcity.

What are Desertification and Land degradation?

The processes of desertification are mechanisms by which drylands are degraded. Desertification consists of both biological and non-biological processes. These processes are classified under broad categories of degradation of physical, chemical, and biological properties of terrestrial ecosystems.

The difference between desertification and land degradation is not process-based but geographic. Although land degradation can occur anywhere across the world, when it occurs in drylands, it is considered desertification.

Land degradation is a negative trend in land conditions, caused by direct or indirect human-induced processes including anthropogenic climate change, expressed as long-term reduction or loss of at least one of the following: biological productivity, ecological integrity, or value to humans.  Arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas, together with hyper-arid areas, constitute drylands that are home to about 3 billion people across the world.

Desertification is not limited to irreversible forms of land degradation, nor is it equated to desert expansion, but represents all forms and levels of land degradation occurring in drylands.

Impact of Desertification

According to the latest IPCC global report Desertification exacerbates climate change through several mechanisms such as changes in vegetation cover, sand and dust aerosols, and greenhouse gas fluxes.

The report said the extent of areas in which dryness (rather than temperature) controls CO2 exchange has increased by 6% between 1948 and 2012 and is projected to increase by at least another 8% by 2050 if the expansion continues at the same rate.

Drylands are home to approximately 38.2% of the global population. The highest number of people live in the drylands of South Asia followed by Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.  

The number of people affected by desertification directly about 250 million people. More recent estimates show that 500 million people lived in 2015 in those dryland areas which experienced a significant loss in biomass productivity between the 1980s and 2000.

The report said the highest numbers of affected people were in South and East Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East.  

“The population in drylands is projected to increase about twice as rapidly as non-drylands, reaching 4 billion people by 2050. This is due to higher population growth rates in drylands and 90% of the population in drylands live in developing countries” it said.