article · Annual Review of Environment and Resources
Arid regions cover roughly 41 percent of the land surface of the Earth and sustain over 38 percent of the global population. Within these drylands, oases serve as the primary centres for human life, socioeconomic activity, and the surrounding environment. In arid zones, oases support virtually the entire resident human population and produce approximately 95 percent of regional gross domestic product. Growing pressures from global warming and human activity have triggered severe water stress, land degradation, desertification, and increased risks of natural disasters. To resolve these ecological challenges and secure long-term socioeconomic progress, the modernisation of oasis ecological agriculture must be accelerated. Success requires balancing competing water demands among agriculture, industry, domestic use, and natural ecosystems to enhance oasis management and climate resilience.
Drylands support over a third of humanity, with oases generating almost all the economic activity in these regions. Because climate change and rising water stress threaten these critical environments with desertification, modernising agricultural practices and balancing water distribution are vital to protect regional economies, ensure food security, and preserve habitats that sustain vulnerable populations.
The findings point to opportunities in water management frameworks and ecological agricultural technologies designed for water-scarce environments. Target users include agricultural planners, water authorities, and regional resource managers. Because the abstract outlines high-level strategies rather than specific tools or prototypes, these applications remain at an early, conceptual stage of development and would require practical technical solutions to reach commercial adoption.
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Arid areas cover approximately 41% of Earth's land surface and support more than 38% of the global population. As an important part of drylands, oases are the main carriers of human production, socioeconomic activity, and the ecological environment. Oases typically sustain nearly all of an arid region's human population and produce nearly 95% of its gross domestic product. The ongoing intensification of global warming and human activities has resulted in water stress and water-related environmental problems in arid areas, along with land degradation and desertification. The risk of water shortage and natural disasters in these regions has also increased. The solution to mitigate these environmental issues and achieve ecological security and sustainable socioeconomic development is to accelerate the modernization of oasis ecological agriculture. This can be accomplished by coordinating the contradictions between agricultural, industrial, and domestic water use and ecological water use in arid areas, thereby improving the level of management in oases and strengthening their ability to cope with climate change.
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DOI: 10.1146/annurev-environ-111522-105932
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