Desertification threatens 24 percent of the world's land area spanning 126 countries and impacts 35 percent of the global population. Yet mainstream global efforts to tackle desertification prioritize short-term vegetation greening over addressing resource constraints and local livelihoods, creating hidden barriers to achieving the United Nations' long-term Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A team led by researchers from the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a SDG-aligned strategy that integrates ecological restoration with climate-resilient agriculture. The study was recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Using China as a representative case, the study shows that converting marginal croplands to pasture and matching crop selection to local environmental conditions can simultaneously boost regional vegetation cover by 0.2 to 0.6 percent, raise livestock production by 5.1 to 35.2 percent, and increase agricultural income by 20.5 to 22.2 percent—while cutting ecological water deficits by 0.1 to 3.7 percent.

When assessed against the SDG framework, the proposed approach could help secure adequate protein supplies for more than 70 million people, lift nearly eight million people out of extreme poverty, and alleviate water scarcity for over 130 million people.

On a global scale, these outcomes are estimated to contribute 0.7 percent to SDG 1 (No Poverty), 9.8 percent to SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and 3.8 percent to SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation)—while also highlighting critical trade-offs across other development targets.

By combining local environmental realities with global SDG priorities, the study provides policymakers, development agencies and international conventions with a practical roadmap to make desertification control more effective, inclusive and resilient, the researchers noted.