Droughts are becoming the norm

Water shortages or excesses are causing major problems for people. Record-breaking global droughts are becoming "the new norm" forcing world leaders to "radically rethink" how they manage them, the UN warned, publishing a global atlas of the scourge on the first day of a global summit to combat desertification. The year 2024, which is set to be the hottest ever recorded on Earth, was marked by several devastating droughts in the Mediterranean region, Ecuador, Brazil, Morocco, Namibia and Malawi, causing fires, water and food shortages. Every year, droughts directly affect 55 million people and represent "one of the most costly and deadly risks worldwide", according to the atlas published by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in partnership with the European Commission's Scientific Research Centre (JRC). The impacts of droughts are "less visible and less publicised than sudden events such as floods and earthquakes", but they should not be underestimated: through a domino effect, droughts constitute a "systemic phenomenon" affecting multiple sectors such as agriculture, energy supply, trade and navigation, while threatening the health of ecosystems and people. Taking into account their indirect effects, which have a magnitude "sometimes difficult to estimate and predict", they affected 1.84 million people in 2022 and 2023, of whom approximately 85% live in low- and middle-income countries, the same atlas recalls, based on a report published by the UN at the end of 2023. And by 2030, three out of four people will be affected by droughts worldwide, according to projections, due to climate change caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels. Using dozens of maps, infographics and case studies, the atlas shows "how drought risks are interconnected (...) and how they can have cascading effects, fueling inequalities and conflicts and threatening public health", the specialists explain. Thus, droughts can reduce hydroelectric power production, triggering an increase in energy prices or power outages. If this happens during a heat wave, it could lead to a surge in hospitalizations and deaths due to a lack of ventilation and air conditioning. The new atlas also aims to urge public and private sector leaders "to radically rethink their decision-making and drought risk management," said Ibrahim Thiaw, executive secretary of the UNCCD, whose 16th conference is being held in Riyadh from December 2-13. Droughts "are not simply the absence of rain, snow or soil moisture," but rather "the result of a combination of natural climate variability, anthropogenic climate change and human mismanagement of water and land resources," the report says. But "despite the magnitude of the threat," their management "is underfunded." "Unprecedented cooperation across sectors and countries is needed to achieve resilience," the atlas' authors concluded, calling for "proactive approaches and risk management perspectives," particularly in water management, innovative agricultural practices, and early warning systems for populations.