The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have recently published a report on Climate Change and Land Use which argues that the use of land in industrial processes is leading to an increase in desertification and land degradation, exacerbating the impact of climate change.
The IPCC report describes how 70% of the Earth’s landscape has been altered by agriculture, deforestation and other human activities and states that extreme weather events which may occur as a result would lead to ”increased displacement, disrupted food chains, threatened livelihoods and contribute to exacerbated stresses for conflict”.
These changing land-use dynamics are also reported as having a significant impact on local ecosystems and biodiversity, particularly in low-lying coastal areas, river deltas and dry-lands, with increased flooding and droughts being forecast as a result.
The report argues for additional disaster risk reduction and management efforts to be put in place to mitigate the impact of climate change in these circumstances, and for responsible authorities to improve sustainable land development practices.
The IPCC report can be read in full here: https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl-report-download-page/.
