People and ecosystems in almost every region in the world are threatened by rising aridification, according to a recent report from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Aridification is different from droughts: droughts can be severely damaging to a region, but they eventually end. Aridification, on the other hand, is permanent.
In the last three decades, the number of people living in drylands has doubled to include about one-third of the world’s population. Also in this time period, more than three-quarters of all land on Earth experienced a drier climate than in the previous 30-year period. Scientists say this global aridification is caused mostly by human-caused climate change, and that it contributes to problems including food and water insecurity, losses in crop productivity, ecosystem degradation, intense sand and dust storms, and wildfires. The rise in aridity has already caused a decline of 12% in GDP of African countries since 1990. As this drying trend continues, more and more agricultural lands in regions across the world will become permanently degraded, causing mass migrations, especially in arid areas of southern Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and southern Asia.
The rise in aridity and the countless other effects of the climate crisis are global problems that require a global solution. The world’s current system of capitalism, where decisions are made for the sake of profit and large countries like the US and China engage in fierce competition, is not fit to address these problems. The severity of the climate crisis demands a world of cooperation, where decisions are based on human needs. The fight for that world is a fight for our lives.
