♦ According to the UNCCD report, over 77.6% of Earth’s land experienced drier conditions during the three decades leading up to 2020 compared to the previous 30-year period. During the same period, global drylands expanded by approximately 4.3 million square kilometres — an area nearly a third larger than India — now covering more than 40 per cent of the Earth's land. The report was released at the 16th conference of the UNCCD in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on 9 December 2024.

♦ Meanwhile, the number of people living in drylands has doubled to 2.3 billion over the past three decades.

♦ Models suggest that as many as 5 billion could inhabit drylands by 2100 in a worst-case climate change scenario.