The desert ecosystems worldwide are vast and may play positive roles in promoting carbon neutrality, reducing carbon loss, and mitigating climate warming. However, due to the contradictions between different observation methods and the unclear internal driving mechanism, desert carbon sink has long been neglected and questioned after many years of research. Accurately determining the contribution of deserts to the global carbon cycle remains unclear, which limits the exploration of their potential for increased carbon sequestration. This review summarizes the current research and key scientific problems related to desert carbon sequestration and outlines the key future directions of desert carbon sequestration development. The key processes and three main driving mechanisms for controlling the carbon sink effect of shifting sand were first elucidated: heat driven, hydrothermal synergy, and soil properties. Based on this, we establish a scheme to estimate the CO₂ flux of shifting sand that considers both hydrothermal interactions and soil properties. According to this assessment, annual CO₂ net sequestration in the shifting sands of Taklimakan Desert is approximately 1.05 × 10⁻³ Pg, which will continue to decrease with climate change. Furthermore, the desertification prevention and control not only directly improve the regional ecological environment but also endow it with important significance in consolidating and enhancing the stability and capacity of carbon sinks in arid areas. This review effectively elucidates the mechanisms underlying desert carbon sequestration, improves carbon emission estimation in arid areas, and lays a foundation for accurately assessing the total carbon sequestration capacity of global deserts and their contribution to the carbon cycle.

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.