Across the arc of this century, the boundary between the habitable and the parched is quietly redrawing itself. New research from the Chinese Academy of Forestry projects that drylands — regions where water scarcity constrains both plant life and human settlement — could claim more than 40 percent of Earth's land surface by 2100, an expansion equivalent to the entire territory of Algeria. The burden will fall unevenly, pressing hardest on Australia, Brazil, and parts of Africa, even as a counterintuitive grace note emerges: rising CO2 may be slowing the advance by causing plants to conserve wa
Study: Earth's Drylands Could Cover 40% of Land by 2100
Expansion of drylands threatens water scarcity and ecosystem degradation affecting populations dependent on currently humid regions, particularly in Australia, Brazil, and Africa.