A new report released today by the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) reveals that drylands, which cover some 40 per cent of the earth’s land surface, are critical in order to buffer the negative impacts of climate change, land degradation, and drought.

“Drylands are absolutely key to global food security for the whole planet,” said IFAD President, Kanayo F. Nwanze in a press release on the report, which was launched today in Marrakech, Morocco, where the 22nd Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), known as COP 22, has been under way since Monday. 

“Environment friendly and water efficient agriculture for smallholders is key to reducing poverty, boosting smallholder adaptation to climate change, and rehabilitating degraded lands. We look to empower more rural farmers to sustainably manage their land, so that while they feed their families for generations to come, they can also get out of poverty,” he said. 

Drylands typically refer to arid, semi-arid, and dry sub-humid areas. They are present on every continent and are home to more than two billion people. They support up to 44 per cent of the world’s cultivated agricultural systems.

The new publication, explains how drylands support ecosystems and a wide variety of biodiversity as well as their vital role in the livelihoods and cultural identities of many people.

The Great Green Wall for the Sahara and the Sahel Initiative supports local communities in the sustainable management of drylands. Dryland areas in the west of China cover about 40 per cent of the country’s total land area and are very vulnerable to drought and desertification.

In Swaziland, for example, IFAD has assisted a number of countries in preparing their National Action Plans (NAPs) under this mechanism. In June 1996, IFAD convened the International Forum on Local Area Development to support the implementation of NAPs. IFAD also hosted the Global Mechanism (GM) of the UNCCD from 1999 to 2014. The GM offers strategic advisory services to developing countries on how to increase investments in sustainable land management (SLM) and promotes “integrated financing strategies (IFS)” to achieve investment frameworks for SLM.

Margarita Astralaga, Director of IFAD’s Environment and Climate Division, warns that “despite their importance, drylands are being degraded with enormous economic consequences.” 
“Desertification of drylands could lead to some 50 million people being displaced within the next 10 years,” she said.

But IFAD’s investments are proving promising: “By investing in drylands, IFAD is seeing significant human and environmental dividends. Environment-friendly and water-efficient agriculture for smallholders is key to reducing poverty, boosting smallholder adaptation to climate change, as well as rehabilitating degraded lands.”

Other publications on this issue FAO "Trees, forests and land use in drylands.The first global assessment
find it in our online catalogue as well.