Droughts

Drought is generally defined as “a deficiency of precipitation over an extended period of time (usually a
season or more) resulting in a water shortage causing adverse impacts on vegetation, animals, and/or
people.”

Drought is defined as “A deficiency of moisture that results in adverse impacts on people, animals, or
vegetation over a sizeable area.”

Drought is a prolonged dry period in the natural climate cycle that can occur anywhere in the world. It is
a slow-onset disaster characterized by the lack of precipitation, resulting in a water shortage. Drought can
have a serious impact on health, agriculture, economies, energy and the environment.

An estimated 55 million people globally are affected by droughts every year, and they are the most serious
hazard to livestock and crops in nearly every part of the world. Drought threatens people’s livelihoods,
increases the risk of disease and death, and fuels mass migration. Water scarcity impacts 40% of the
world’s population, and as many as 700 million people are at-risk of being displaced as a result of drought
by 2030.

Rising temperatures caused by climate change are making already dry regions drier and wet regions
wetter. In dry regions, this means that when temperatures rise, water evaporates more quickly, and thus
increases the risk of drought or prolong periods of drought. Between 80-90% of all documented disasters
from natural hazards during the past 10 years have resulted from floods, droughts, tropical cyclones, heat
waves and severe storms.
Various Causes of Droughts
1 - Lack or insufficient rainfall (or precipitation)

This is the major cause of droughts in most regions. A long-drawn-out period without rainfall can cause
an area to dry out. The quantity of water vapor in the atmosphere pretty much impacts the precipitation
of an area. When a region has moist and low-pressure systems, there is huge probability that rain, hail
and snow will occur. The exact opposite would happen when the region has high-pressure systems, and
less water vapor. Farmers plant crops in anticipation of rains, and so when the rains fail, and irrigation
systems are not in place, agricultural drought happens.

2 - Changes in climate

Changes in climate, for instance, global warming can contribute to droughts. Global warming is likely to
impact the whole world, especially third world economies. Most governments have tried to play down
the fact that the earth’s temperature has significantly increased. But scientists have proven, without
doubt, that human activities are the main contributors to the increase in greenhouse gasses to the
atmosphere. This increase in greenhouse gasses has resulted in warmer temperatures. Warmer
temperatures are recipes for dryness and bushfires. These set of conditions mightily contribute to
prolonged droughts.

3 - Human activities

Forests are critical components of the water cycle. They help store water, minimize evaporation, and
contribute a great deal of atmospheric moisture in the form of transpiration. This, in essence, implies that
deforestation, aimed at uplifting the economic status of a region, will expose vast quantities of water to
evaporation. Cutting down trees will also take away the capability of the ground to retain water and allow
desertification to occur easily. Over-farming is another human activity contributing to droughts. Over-
farming loosens the soil allowing erosion to take place. Soil erosion compromises the capacity of soil to
hold water.

4 - Overexploitation of surface water resources

Specific areas are endowed with surface water resources like rivers and streams whose sources are
watersheds and mountains. These surface water resources could dry out if their main sources are
interfered with. Irrigation systems and hydroelectric dams are just some of the aspects that contribute to
over-exploitation of surface water resources. They also cut off supply of water to downstream
communities.

Disastrous Effects of Drought

1. Hunger and famine

Droughts result in too little water to support food crops through either natural precipitation or irrigation
using reserve water supplies. When drought undermines or destroys food sources, people go hungry and
when the drought is severe and continues over a long period, famine occurs.

The best example is the 1984 famine in Ethiopia which was the result of a deadly combination of a severe
drought and a dangerously ineffective government and led to hundreds of thousands dying.
2. Not enough drinking water

Droughts will also result in there being not enough water to drink or use. All living things must have water
to survive and when desperate for water to drink, people will turn to untreated sources that can make
them sick.

The lack of clean water will also result in poor public sanitation and personal hygiene and of course a wide
range of life-threatening diseases. Every year, millions are sickened or die due to a lack of clean water
access and sanitation, and droughts will only make the problem worse.

3. Wildfires and an effect on wildlife

The low moisture and precipitation that often characterize droughts can quickly create hazardous
conditions in forests and across rangelands, setting the stage for wildfires that may cause injuries or
deaths as well as extensive property damage and already shrinking food supplies.

With wild animals and plants suffering from droughts, even if they have adapted to dry conditions, they
will die or invade human populations in search of water. Droughts will then result in increased mortality
and reduced reproduction, which is especially problematic for populations of at-risk species whose
numbers are already very low.

4. Social conflicts and wars

When a precious commodity like water is in short supply due to drought, and the lack of water creates a
corresponding lack of food, people will compete, and eventually fight and kill, to secure enough water to
survive. The ongoing Syrian Civil War is believed to have started after millions of rural Syrians fled the
drought-stricken rural areas for the cities, triggering unrest.

5. Migration and relocation

Faced with the other impacts of drought, many people and of course animals will flee a drought-stricken
area in search of a new home with a better supply of water, enough food, and without the disease and
conflict that were present in the place they are leaving.

6. Blackouts

The majority of people in the world continue to rely on hydroelectric projects for their electricity. Drought
will reduce the amount of water stored in reservoirs behind dams, reducing the amount of power
produced. This problem can be very challenging for the numerous small communities relying on small-
scale hydro, where a small electric turbine is installed on a local creek.

Effective Solutions to Drought

1. Harvesting Rainwater

This is an easy solution to droughts and can be employed with ease at home. With rainwater harvesting,
homes can store the water they get from rain and then use it when they need it in dry conditions, rather
than exhausting present water bodies like rivers. If a house has a primary water source, then rainwater
harvesting provides them with an auxiliary option that they can use when water is not available.
2. Planting more trees and combating deforestation

This is something that needs to be employed by everyone in the world and can result in billions of trees
planted daily. It is a piece of old-age advice but still applies today. Planting more trees will improve the
quality of the environment and increase the success of precipitation.

It can also reverse the drought and arid conditions of an area if the trees are maintained well until
maturity. With planting more trees, the other solution is to avoid the existing ones, unless more are
planted.

For instance, the Amazon in South America is being destroyed at alarming rates, and scientists have
warned that decades of human activity and a changing climate will bring the jungle near a “tipping point.”

The deforestation coupled with forest fires and global temperature rises will soon result in the water cycle
being irreversibly broken and locking in a trend of declining rainfall and longer dry seasons that began
decades ago.

3. Switching to renewable energies

We have, for long, relied on non-renewable sources for our energy, like petroleum. The extraction and
use of these energies results in more greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere, resulting in
global warming, and of course droughts. The alternative is to switch to renewable sources like wind and
solar, which have little to no effect on the environment and will not result in droughts.

4. Stricter government policies

These can be used at the local, national, regional and international levels. Stringent laws need to be
implemented on those who use practices that can result in droughts or other environmentally damaging
results. Doing this will stop climate change and solve the ongoing droughts. They include limiting the
amounts of greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere and higher taxes for non-compliance.

5. Becoming environmentally conscious

This includes educating the younger generation on the need to protect, preserve and improve the
environment, recycling, reusing and planting more trees. The education curriculum, the news media and
companies also need to stress the need to care for the environment, so that it becomes an individual task
to prevent droughts.