Study: Most drylands worldwide unprotected, endangering biodiversity

An Israeli study has found that most of the world's drylands, which cover nearly half of the Earth's land surface, are unprotected from human land-use conversion, threatening biodiversity in these areas, including extinction dangers, Ben Gurion University (BGU) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The primary human pressures on these areas include agriculture, timber and plant harvesting, alternative energy sources, overgrazing, invasive species and disease, infrastructure development and climate change, said the statement.

The study, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, disclosed that despite these challenges, only 12 percent of drylands are encompassed by protected areas under all International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categories.

This falls significantly short of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) global agreement target of protecting 30 percent of the Earth's surface by 2030.

The level of protection drops even lower when examining IUCN category rankings, with less than 5 percent of the most biodiverse dryland areas strictly managed for biodiversity conservation.

Consequently, less than 10 percent of habitats for most species are allocated to conservation efforts, a likely minimum necessary to maintain viable populations.

This includes numerous vertebrate species and dryland endemic species found exclusively in these regions without any form of protection.

In contrast, non-dryland regions enjoy better coverage with 21 percent of protected areas.

The study emphasized significant implications for Africa and Asia, which harbor the largest portions of global drylands.

The researchers highlighted that drylands are already experiencing severe land degradation and substantial declines in water resources, rendering their biodiversity particularly susceptible to extreme heat events, resource fluctuations, and habitat fragmentation due to human activities.

Looking ahead, the study predicts profound human-induced changes in drylands throughout this century, driven by urbanization, agricultural expansion and increased utilization of alternative energy sources.

The researchers urgently called for expanding protection efforts to safeguard hundreds of amphibian, bird, mammal and reptile species, as well as valuable ecological systems within drylands.