All Earth

Climate Resilience and Ecosystem Sustainability in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions under SDG 13 & SDG 15

The global challenge of achieving SDG 13 and SDG 15 remains one of humanity's most pressing concerns. SDG 13 aims to Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts. SDG 15 aims to Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss. The key targets include: 13.1 Strengthen resilience and adaptive capacity to climate‑related hazards and natural disasters in all countries; 13.3 Improve education, awareness‑raising and institutional capacity on climate change mitigation, adaptation, impact reduction and early warning; 15.3 Combat desertification and restore degraded land and soil; 15.5 Halt natural habitat degradation and biodiversity loss in vulnerable terrestrial systems. To accelerate the achievement of these targets, All Earth welcomes submissions for an Article Collection focused on innovative research addressing SDG 13 and SDG 15 challenges with a particular emphasis on climate adaptation, desertification control, and ecological conservation in arid and semi-arid regional systems.

Arid and semi-arid regions cover nearly one-third of the global terrestrial surface and are among the most climate-vulnerable ecosystems on Earth. Characterized by scarce precipitation, fragile soil structures, sparse vegetation, and limited water resources, these dryland systems are extremely sensitive to global climate change and human disturbances. In recent decades, rising temperatures, frequent extreme drought events, and intensified human activities such as overgrazing and irrational land use have exacerbated regional land desertification, soil erosion, vegetation degradation, and biodiversity decline. Coupled with water resource shortages and unstable ecological cycles, dryland environments face unprecedented degradation risks. This Article Collection focuses specifically on interdisciplinary Earth science research in arid and semi-arid zones, integrating field monitoring, remote sensing observation, numerical simulation, and socio-ecological research to explore the evolutionary mechanisms and sustainable development paths of dryland ecosystems under climate change.

Dryland ecological degradation poses severe threats to global ecological security, regional food and water security, and the livelihoods of billions of residents living in arid and semi-arid areas. As key vulnerable zones for SDG 13 climate action and SDG 15 terrestrial ecological protection, dryland regions are the core battlefield for curbing desertification, mitigating climate hazards, and restoring degraded terrestrial ecosystems. Targeted and systematic Earth science research on dryland systems can fill the research gap of differentiated climate and ecological governance in vulnerable arid regions, provide reliable scientific data and technical support for regional climate adaptation, desertification control, and ecological restoration. Furthermore, relevant research outcomes can offer practical references for policymakers and stakeholders to formulate targeted sustainable development strategies, effectively promoting the localized implementation of UN SDGs in global dryland areas.

In particular, we encourage the submission of articles on the subtopics:

• Spatiotemporal monitoring and dynamic analysis of drought, desertification and land degradation in arid and semi-arid regions
• Numerical simulation and prediction of climate change impacts on dryland water resources and vegetation ecosystems
• Risk assessment and early warning of climate-related natural hazards in typical arid and semi-arid areas
• Ecological restoration technology and effectiveness evaluation of degraded dryland soil and vegetation systems
• AI and remote sensing big data applications in dryland ecological environment monitoring and management
• Coupling mechanisms of human activities and climate change driving dryland ecosystem evolution
• Adaptive management strategies and sustainable development solutions for arid and semi-arid ecological systems

Keywords:

1. Dryland ecology
2. Desertification control
3. Drought risk assessment
4. Ecological restoration
5. Climate adaptation
6. SDG

This Article Collection is part of Taylor & Francis's SDG Article Collection Series. This series is dedicated to publishing groundbreaking research that addresses global sustainability challenges while accelerating progress toward achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Articles published within this Collection will benefit from enhanced promotional activities across Taylor & Francis platforms, ensuring increased visibility and discoverability for your research.

This Collection supports the following SDGs:

SDG 13 Climate Action (Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts)

SDG 15 Life on Land (Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss)

­­All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this Collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member).

Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript. All Earth accepts the following types of article:

• Research Article
• Review Article
• Comment
• Rapid Communication
• Data Note
• Method
• Registered Report

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is September 3, 2027.

Please contact Agnes Zhou Agnes.Zhou@taylorandfrancis.com with any queries on discount codes regarding this Article Collection.

Please select Lithosphere from the list of available sections during submission. Failure to select the appropriate Article Collection or Section name can result in delays.

Dr. Jinghu Pan is a Professor and Doctoral Supervisor at the College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, China. He received his Ph.D. in Geography from Lanzhou University, China. His research interests cover ecosystem services, ecological security assessment, and the application of remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in eco-environmental geography.

Prof. Soumyajit Mukherjee is in the Dept of Earth Sciences, IIT Bombay, INDIA. Teaches and performs research on structural geology and stratigraphy. Also published on natural hazards, resources etc.