Focus on the hazards posed by SDS and climate variation.

Climate change, including changes in temperature and precipitation levels, is altering SDS hazard levels and increasing associated risks.

The hazards posed by SDS and climate change particularly affect people who directly depend on natural resources for their livelihoods, such as those who practice rainfed agriculture, pastoral farming and dryland forestry. These groups of people are more vulnerable to intensified climate variability and extreme events such as floods, droughts and storms that are likely to become more frequent, more widespread or more intense due to climate change.