They are mostly arid, with limited arable land and prone to drought.

Salt water contaminated many sources of fresh water and destroyed large tracts of arable land.

But one of the proposed storage facilities is earmarked for the arable fields behind his home.

Directly below there is an apple orchard, beyond that fields of arable farmland with the occasional house, and in the distance the town of Sittingbourne, silhouettes of Thames Estuary heavy industry visible against the sky.

However, major landowners and landgrabbers often clear huge areas to use them as pastures or for arable farming.