Advances in Research on Climate Change and Its Effects on the Arid and Semi-Arid Regions of China over the Past Century

Arid and semi-arid regions constitute approximately one-third of the total land area in China and are vulnerable to the effects of global climate change. Over the past century, a large number of studies have investigated regional climate change and its impacts. However, the conclusions are inconsistent due to differing research perspectives, and this has highlighted the urgent need to obtain systematic, scientific knowledge through review and synthesis. This study, based on a survey of all available literature, reviews the evolution of regional climate change and its effects in the arid and semi-arid regions of China over the last century. The present review examines three aspects of the surveyed previous studies: data, methods, and subjects, and then summarizes essential scientific findings into four subject areas: the origin and expansion of arid and semi-arid regions, the characteristics of climate change in these areas, the drivers of climate change in arid and semi-arid zones, and the consequences of climate change in such environments. Finally, six key directions for future research on climate change and its effects on the arid and semi-arid regions of China are proposed.