In Harmony with Nature: A Dryland Perspective on Development and Biodiversity

Op-Ed by Dr Himanshu Pathak, Director General of ICRISAT

Each year, the International Day for Biological Diversity invites us to reflect on the living fabric that sustains life—biodiversity. The 2025 theme, “Harmony with Nature and Sustainable Development,” underscores an increasingly urgent truth: sustainable development must go hand in hand with the preservation of nature.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the world’s drylands. Covering 41% of the Earth’s land surface, these regions are home to over two billion people and support 50% of the world’s livestock and 44% of its cultivated systems (UNCCD). Far from being marginal, drylands are central to global food security, biodiversity, and climate resilience.

As climate change intensifies and population growth amplifies resource demands, these critical ecosystems face escalating threats. About 20-35% of drylands are already degraded, and up to 45% of Africa’s drylands are affected by desertification—a crisis eroding biodiversity, weakening traditional agricultural systems, and undermining livelihoods. Agricultural homogenization has also taken a heavy toll: the FAO estimates that 75% of crop diversity has been lost over the last century, as traditional varieties give way to genetically uniform crops.

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