Scientists report that amount of water in soil dropped significantly on 77.6% of land since 1990s
Experts of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) found that over the past three decades, the amount of water in the soil has significantly decreased on 77.6 percent of the land area, while the total area of arid and desert areas has increased by 7.6 percent, TASS reports
UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw said the analysis dispelled the uncertainty that had long surrounded trends related to global desertification. According to him, it was the first time scientists had clarified the scale of this crisis at a serious scientific level and also revealed the threat it posed to the lives of billions of people on Earth.
Climatologists, soil scientists, hydrologists and other experts assessed how the situation had changed since 1994, when the UN Convention to Combat Desertification was signed. The analysis showed that the total area of desert and arid regions increased from 37.5 percent to 40.6 percent in three decades, while the amount of water in soils and habitats decreased significantly in 77.6 percent of the regions of continents and islands. As a result, 4.3 million square kilometres of wet continents have become deserts and dry soils – one third larger than India.
It is also reported that about 2.3 billion people now live in desert and dry lands, with the majority of them living in Asia and Africa. According to scientists, these figures have grown by about a third over the past three decades, and this increase is associated not only with a surge in population there, but also with rapid desertification. By late 21st century, scientists expect that almost 5 billion people will live in arid and desert regions of the planet.
