Editing IPCC:AR6/SRCCL/Chapter-2 (section)

=== 2.2.2 Climate-driven changes in aridity ===

<div id="section-2-2-2-climate-driven-changes-in-aridity-block-1"></div>

Desertification is defined and discussed at length in Chapter 3 and is a function of both human activity and climate variability and change. There are uncertainties in distinguishing between historical climate- caused aridification and desertification and future projections of aridity as different measurement methods of aridity do not agree on historical or projected changes (Sections 3.1.1 and 3.2.1). However, warming trends over drylands are twice the global average (Lickley and Solomon 2018 <sup>[[#fn:r54|54]]</sup> ) and some temperate drylands are projected to convert to subtropical drylands as a result of an increased drought frequency causing reduced soil moisture availability in the growing season (Engelbrecht et al. 2015 <sup>[[#fn:r55|55]]</sup> ; Schlaepfer et al. 2017 <sup>[[#fn:r56|56]]</sup> ). We therefore assess with ''medium confidence'' that a warming climate will result in regional increases in the spatial extent of drylands under mid- and high emission scenarios and that these regions will warm faster than the global average warming rate.

<span id="the-influence-of-climate-change-on-food-security"></span>