In recent years, people everywhere have endured soaring food prices, coupled with growing concerns for the wellbeing of those who produce food. There are multiple reasons for these higher food costs: from geopolitical tensions to the COVID-19 pandemic to accelerating climate change. Farmers, retailers and consumers are all feeling the heat.

However, drought and land degradation, which are exacerbated by climate change, are the gravest threats to livestock and crops worldwide. This is one of the reasons why this year’s World Environment Day is calling for land protection and restoration to address land degradation, drought and desertification – and bring immediate social, economic and environmental net gains.

Land degradation and drought harm 3.2 billion people worldwide, including across East Africa, India, the Amazon basin, and large swaths of the United States. In Europe, even though summer is not yet in full swing, some areas are already on drought alert. In the near future, one in five people in China will face more droughts. Australia’s farmers are bracing for a 20-year-long megadrought. In the next 25 years, land........

© Al Jazeera