Drylands occupy 43% of the African continent and play an important role in the global carbon cycle and in supporting local livelihoods. Understanding how dryland ecosystems respond to environmental changes, both structurally and functionally, is of great significance for sustainable dryland management. In this article, we review the current remote sensing-based knowledge on African dryland ecosystem dynamics and the main drivers of changes. Global CO₂ enrichment, changes in rainfall regimes, and a decline in fire activity have collectively driven vegetation greening, woody plant increase and carbon dynamics in African drylands over recent decades, challenging the long-held desertification narrative. Here we also highlight the importance of rainfall–vegetation–fire feedbacks in enhancing dryland ecosystem resilience and predicting future ecosystem responses.

旱地占非洲大陆的43％，并在全球碳循环和支持当地生计中发挥重要作用。了解旱地生态系统如何在结构和功能上对环境变化做出响应，对于可持续的旱地管理具有重要意义。在本文中，我们回顾了有关非洲旱地生态系统动态及其变化的主要驱动因素的基于遥感的最新知识。全球CO ₂近几十年来，丰富，降雨制度的变化以及火灾活动的减少共同推动了非洲干旱地区的植被绿化，木本植物增加和碳动态，这对长期以来的荒漠化叙述提出了挑战。在这里，我们还强调了降雨－植被－火灾反馈对于增强旱地生态系统的适应力和预测未来的生态系统响应的重要性。