Ambiente - Salute - Diritti Umani - Nutrizione - Agricoltura

The impacts of climate change and desertification on drylands could be reduced by preserving biodiversity, one of the first studies to look at dryland biodiversity and ecosystems has found.

This, in turn, would help protect the livelihoods of more than a third of the global population.
Drylands occupy more than 40 per cent of the global land surface. They host around a fifth of the major centres of global plant diversity and more than a third of endemic bird areas — home to birds that live in geographically restricted areas. (...)

The article:
http://www.scidev.net/en/agriculture-and-environment/biodiversity/news/preserving-biodiversity-protects-drylands-.html

More about:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6065/174.full?ijkey=4gk5DO3UUHm/g&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6065/214/suppl/DC1

The full paper in "Science":
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6065/214.full?ijkey=Lu96VoQ/p6dFk&keytype=ref&siteid=sci

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UNEP - Soil erosion increasing global warming threat:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/13/us-unep-soil-idUSTRE81C13J20120213