UN report warns increase in permanently dry land is 'redefining life on Earth'

Workers look after trees planted in the "green belt" area, trying to prevent worsening desertification and sand storms, on the outskirt of Kerbala, Iraq 12 May, 2022. © REUTERS - ALAA AL-MARJANI

Just over 75 percent of the world's land has been left "permanently drier" over the previous three decades, a UN-backed report has found. The data coincides with Cop16 talks on desertification held in Saudi Arabia until Friday.

Dry land now covers around 40 percent of the Earth's land mass, excluding Antarctica, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) study found, cautioning the shift could affect up to five billion people by 2100.