Drylands are zones covering over 40% of the planet's earth surface. Here, rainfall is balanced by processes involving water evaporation and by plants, which transpire. This short review looks at two key areas where drylands are increasing-the Sahara-Sahel-Arabian Peninsula (SSAP) zone and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China-and shows ways that data analysis and forecasting in both geoengineering and in genomics techniques may help in understanding and progressing climate change mitigation.