Update: I failed to make clear that negative
numbers in the drought severity index implies worse droughts. The
two findings below contradict each other. Here is another
"greening", of the Sahel:
On the day that a famine is declared in Africa -- thanks as much
to Somalia's political dysfunctionality as to a severe drought --
comes news that the world drought severity index has been falling
for three decades. You can check for yourself by going here and clicking on "make time series":
At the same time,
a new paper finds that the world is getting greener, not
browner:
By analyzing "recent inventory data and
long-term field observations coupled to statistical or process
models" Pan et al. conclude that "the global net forest C sink was
1.0 ± 0.8 and 1.2 ± 0.9 PgC yr-1 for 1990-1999 and
2000-2007"-indicating that the terrestrial forest sink has been at
least consistent, if not expanding, over at least the past 18 years
(1990-2007).
