Climate Variation and Dryland Science

Abstract

A new field of dryland science is emerging as a synthetic and interdisciplinary approach that seeks to understand the fundamental characteristics and dynamics of nature and human activities in drylands and their interactions. The applied aspect of dryland science attempts to address environmental and socio-economic issues that occur in the dryland nature-human system by taking region-specific appropriate measures to maintain and enhance its sustainability.
First, this review paper aims to outline the major results of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report on observed and projected future climate change in the world's drylands and their impacts on the nature-human system. The second purpose is to summarize the conceptual framework and the methodology from dryland science to measure the sustainability or the vulnerability of the system against drought as a perturbation. Recommendations are given for developing a drought early warning system as an earth-scientific proactive countermeasure to mitigate the impact.