{{See also|Effects of climate change on the water cycle}}
Drylands cover 41% of the earth’s land surface and include 45% of the world’s agricultural land.<ref name=":8Burrell">{{Cite journal |last=Burrell |first=A. L. |last2=Evans |first2=J. P. |last3=De Kauwe |first3=M. G. |date=2020 |title=Anthropogenic climate change has driven over 5 million km2 of drylands towards desertification |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-17710-7 |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=11 |issue=1 |doi=10.1038/s41467-020-17710-7 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=PMC7395722 |pmid=32737311 |doi-access=free}} [[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px]] Text was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License]</ref> These regions are among the most vulnerable ecosystems to [[Climate change|anthropogenic climate]] and [[land use change]] and are under threat of desertification. An observation-based attribution study of desertification was carried out in 2020 which accounted for climate change, [[Climate variability and change|climate variability]], [[CO2 fertilization effect|CO<sub>2</sub> fertilization]] as well as both the gradual and rapid ecosystem changes caused by land use.<ref name=":8Burrell" /> The study found that, between 1982 and 2015, 6% of the world’s drylands underwent desertification driven by unsustainable land use practices compounded by anthropogenic climate change. Despite an average global greening, anthropogenic climate change has degraded 12.6% (5.43 million km<sup>2</sup>) of drylands, contributing to desertification and affecting 213 million people, 93% of who live in [[Developing country|developing economies]].<ref name=":8Burrell" />
