Addressing the challenge of increasing dryland areas
Session A-05(108): Conservation, restoration and sustainable use of dryland ecosystems
There is clear evidence of the fact that the growth rate of CO2 concentration has been increasing and, together with other greenhouse gases, this increase is a main driver of global warming. Unfortunately, these gases have a relatively long lifetime – CO2, for example, has a lifetime of 200-400 years – which means that we are putting a heavy burden on future generations.
Desertification is one of the results of rising temperatures. In China there are actually 4.52 million km2 of drylands constituting 47.1% of the total landmass. Parts of these dryland areas are threatened by degradation and desertification. In Mongolia we are witnessing a marked decrease of the number and area of lakes. This is mainly due to human activities such as coal extraction and irrigation. These and other anthropogenic drivers of change in drylands intensify the pressure on land, which leads to land degradation and decreases the ecosystem value, thus affecting people’s livelihoods. Read more…