Zahoor-Salmi
Daseart
The deserts of the world are threatened by a combination of human exploitation and climate change that could, within decades, wipe out many unique habitats and rare species, an authoritative study has found.
While climate change is causing many semi-dry regions of the world to become increasingly arid, it is making life more difficult for true deserts that have been in existence for thousands of years.
Deserts account for up to 25 per cent of the Earth's land surface, are home to half a billion people and account for 12 per cent of the biodiversity "hotspots" - the richest areas in terms of rare animals and plants. Yet warmer temperatures and less predicable rainfall caused by climate change threatens to upset the delicate balance of desert life which has been honed by thousands of years of relative climatic stability.
Daseart
The deserts of the world are threatened by a combination of human exploitation and climate change that could, within decades, wipe out many unique habitats and rare species, an authoritative study has found.
While climate change is causing many semi-dry regions of the world to become increasingly arid, it is making life more difficult for true deserts that have been in existence for thousands of years.
Deserts account for up to 25 per cent of the Earth's land surface, are home to half a billion people and account for 12 per cent of the biodiversity "hotspots" - the richest areas in terms of rare animals and plants. Yet warmer temperatures and less predicable rainfall caused by climate change threatens to upset the delicate balance of desert life which has been honed by thousands of years of relative climatic stability.