Drylands

[2] Drylands are complex, evolving structures whose characteristics and dynamic properties depend on many interrelated interactions between climate, soil, and vegetation.

[3] The livelihoods of millions of people in developing countries depend highly on dryland biodiversity to ensure their food security and their well-being.

[4] Dryland inhabitants' lifestyle provides global environmental benefits which contribute to halt climate change, such as carbon sequestration and species conservation.

The UN Conference on Sustainable Development Rio+20, held in Brazil in June 2012, stressed the intrinsic value of biological diversity and recognized the severity of global biodiversity loss and degradation of ecosystems.

[citation needed] Pastoralists who rely on cattle for both economic and social well-being constitute the majority of rural inhabitants in the drylands.

The low level of precipitation and the high degree of variability in the climatic conditions limit the possibilities for rainfed crop production in these areas.

[10] Countries like Burkina Faso, Botswana, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and the Republic of Moldova, are 99% covered in areas of dry and sub-humid lands.

[16] Based on spatial repartition of greenhouse gas emissions (GGE) in the atmosphere, it seems that Africa contributes marginally in comparison to the rest of the world.

To illustrate, the trend of reduced rainfall in the Sahel area has been marked by climatic extremes with devastating consequences on natural resources, agricultural and pastoral activities, etc.

The state of scientific knowledge has allowed for the identification of the principal manifestations of climate change on the development of socio-economic activities in semi-arid lands.