Is the World Facing an Escalating Drought Crisis?

Berlin, July 2 (NationPress) Girls are being removed from schools and coerced into marriage. Hospitals are left in darkness. Endangered dolphins are found lifeless in the receding Amazon... These disturbing realities are not from a fictional narrative but stem from some of the most catastrophic droughts in history, as highlighted in a newly released UN-supported report.

Compiled by the US National Drought Mitigation Centre (NDMC) and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), with assistance from the International Drought Resilience Alliance, the report titled Drought Hotspots Around the World 2023-2025 provides an in-depth analysis of how droughts exacerbate poverty, hunger, energy shortages, and ecological collapse.

The report warns that drought, exacerbated by climate change and incessant pressure on land and water resources, has intensified since 2023, evolving into one of the most widespread and destructive crises recorded. This has resulted in cascading effects on food security, energy sources, ecosystems, and human survival, according to Xinhua news agency.

Eastern and Southern Africa are among the hardest-hit areas, with over 90 million individuals facing acute hunger. Southern Africa, already vulnerable to drought, suffered severely, with approximately 68 million—about one in six people—requiring food assistance in August 2024.

In Zimbabwe alone, the corn harvest for 2024 saw a staggering 70 percent decline year-over-year, causing maize prices to double, while 9,000 cattle succumbed to thirst and starvation. In Somalia, drought-related starvation resulted in around 43,000 fatalities in 2022. Zambia encountered a significant energy crisis in 2024 as the Zambezi River plummeted to merely 20 percent of its long-term average, crippling the country’s largest hydroelectric facility to just 7 percent capacity and leading to blackouts lasting up to 21 hours daily.

Countries around the Mediterranean are also grappling with extended drought and extreme temperatures. Spain's olive harvest was cut by half by September 2023, resulting in a twofold increase in olive oil prices. Morocco's sheep population has dwindled by 38 percent since 2016, while Turkey has seen groundwater depletion hastened by drought, leading to the formation of sinkholes.

Additionally, unprecedentedly low river levels in the Amazon Basin during 2023 and 2024 resulted in mass deaths of fish and endangered dolphins, disrupting drinking water and transportation for hundreds of thousands. Severe drought conditions reduced Panama Canal traffic by over one-third between late 2023 and early 2024, forcing vessels to take longer routes and impacting global supply chains.

The report characterizes the 2023-2024 El Niño phenomenon as having “added fuel to the fire” of climate change, amplifying drought impacts in agricultural and ecological hotspots. “This was a perfect storm,” stated co-author Kelly Helm Smith of NDMC. “Many vulnerable societies and ecosystems were pushed beyond their limits.”

The economic repercussions are escalating. Co-author Cody Knutson, overseeing NDMC drought planning research, emphasized a recent OECD estimate indicating that a drought episode today incurs an economic cost at least twice as high as in 2000, with projections of a 35 to 110 percent increase by 2035.

“Ripple effects can transform regional droughts into global economic shocks,” she added. “No nation is immune when vital water-dependent systems begin to fail.”

The human impact is equally grave. The groups most susceptible to the effects of drought include women, children, the elderly, pastoralists, subsistence farmers, and those with chronic illnesses.

In Eastern Africa, instances of child marriage have more than doubled as families seek dowries for survival. In Zimbabwe, entire school districts witnessed mass dropouts due to hunger, costs, and sanitation challenges affecting girls. In some regions, the Amazon River dropped to its lowest recorded level, stranding residents—including women in labor—and entire communities without access to potable water.

“Girls taken from school and forced into marriage, hospitals going dark, families digging holes in parched riverbeds just to find contaminated water—these are indicators of a dire crisis,” remarked lead author Paula Guastello, a researcher on drought impacts at NDMC.

The report calls for urgent global investment in drought readiness, advocating for enhanced early warning systems and real-time monitoring of drought conditions and their impacts.

“This is not a mere dry spell,” warned Mark Svoboda, report co-author and NDMC Founding Director. “This is a slow-moving global catastrophe, the worst I’ve ever encountered.”

The report underscores the necessity of nature-based solutions such as watershed restoration and the utilization of indigenous crops. It also emphasizes the need for resilient infrastructure, including off-grid energy and alternative water supply technologies.

“Drought is not just a weather phenomenon. It can trigger a social, economic, and environmental emergency,” stated Smith of NDMC. “The question is not whether this will happen again, but whether we will be better prepared next time.”

To ensure that no one is left behind, the report highlights the importance of gender-responsive adaptation measures, ensuring that women and girls are not further marginalized. Strengthened international collaboration is deemed essential, particularly in safeguarding transboundary river basins and trade routes.

“Drought is a silent killer. It creeps in, depleting resources and devastating lives in a gradual manner. Its wounds run deep,” noted UNCCD Executive Secretary Ibrahim Thiaw.

“Drought is no longer a distant threat,” he added.