High CO2 levels are greening the world’s drylands, is that good news?

Drylands host a large portion of the world’s farmland but face continued desertification, despite many of them recently experiencing increased vegetation. Five million hectares (12 million acres) of drylands, an area half the size of South Korea, have been desertified due to climate change since 1980, but elevated CO2 levels are also driving a regreening of other drylands, which some argue is a positive effect of pumping CO2 into the atmosphere.

However, our guest on this episode says this isn’t necessarily good news: remote-sensing researcher Arden Burrell describes how the CO2 fertilization effect is greening some dryland ecosystems and why this worries scientists who say it may mask land overuse and decreased water resources.

Read the study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-024-01463-y

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Image Credit: Green areas saw a growth in foliage from 2000 to 2017, while brown areas represent a reduction. Image courtesy of Joshua Stevens/NASA Earth Observatory.

Time Codes

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(00:00) Introduction

(02:50) Drylands and desertification

(04:19) Impacts of climate change on drylands

(09:33) The CO2 fertilization effect

(23:34) Digging into the models

(30:16) Implications for land overuse

(35:54) Post-show

(41:42) Credits