Drylands are critical to global food security yet remain among the most climate-vulnerable agro-ecological zones. Discuss in light of recent international declarations.

Drylands — arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid zones — span about 45% of the world's land surface and support over two billion people, most of them smallholder farmers [1]. Their paradox is that they anchor global rainfed food production while bearing the sharpest edge of climate risk, a tension that recent declarations at New Delhi have sought to address.

Why drylands are critical to food security

• They carry the bulk of rainfed agriculture in Asia and Africa, producing coarse cereals, pulses and oilseeds that underpin nutritional security in semi-arid economies [1].
• They are reservoirs of climate-resilient germplasm — sorghum, millets, chickpea, groundnut — crops central to the research mandate of ICRISAT, which completed 50 years of partnership with ICAR in 2026 [1].
• They sustain livestock and pastoral livelihoods, diversifying incomes where crop failure is routine.

Why they remain most climate-vulnerable

• Rainfall variability and drought make yields erratic; irrigation coverage is thin and groundwater stressed.
• Land degradation and desertification progressively erode the productive base, a concern that framed UNCCD COP14 (2019) at New Delhi [2].
• Weak market access, low mechanisation and thin extension networks keep adaptive capacity low for dryland smallholders.

Recent international declarations

• Delhi Declaration on Drylands (3D), 2026: adopted at the Dryland Congress 2026 (10–12 September, New Delhi), jointly convened by ICAR and ICRISAT, where 800+ experts from Asia, Africa and the Americas deliberated on six themes under the theme "Transforming Dryland Agriculture with South–South Cooperation" [1].
• New Delhi Declaration, UNCCD COP14 (2019): committed parties to make Land Degradation Neutrality by 2030 a national target, with India pledging restoration of 26 million hectares of degraded land [2].

Both declarations are consensus outcomes, not binding treaties; their worth lies in translation into national programmes and research partnerships. India, hosting both, is well placed to convert this convening power into South–South technology transfer, seed systems and climate-resilient practice — advancing SDG 2 on zero hunger alongside SDG 15 on life on land.